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London Marathon: Cheruiyot and Jepkosgei eye glory in Hassan-Assefa rematch

Friday 25th April, 2025 12:36 PM| By Kiplagat Sang

Vivian Cheruiyot and Joyciline Jepkosgei will carry Kenya’s flag as two of the three fastest women in history renew their rivalry in London.

The London Marathon is set to take place on Sunday, April 27, 2025, as Dutch star Sifan Hassan and Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa are expected to light up the race.

Hassan, for the first time since her epic marathon debut in 2023, and Assefa, one year on from finishing runner-up to Peres Jepchirchir’s women-only world record, clash in London.

Assefa sits second on the world marathon all-time list with the 2:11:53 she clocked when winning in Berlin in 2023. That was a world record at the time and saw her smash the previous mark by more than two minutes as she became the first woman to run inside 2:13 and 2:12. The world record has since been taken to 2:09:56 by Ruth Chepngetich, as per World Athletics stats.

The Ethiopian also ran 2:15:37 to win in Berlin in 2022, and her time in London last year was 2:16:23 as she finished just seven seconds behind Jepchirchir.

Assefa will be up against Hassan, who has a best of 2:13:44, Jepkosgei, and Alemu, who completed the top four behind Assefa in London last year – the first marathon in which four women finished inside 2:17.

That 2:13:44 by Hassan was achieved in Chicago in 2023, five and a half months on from her dramatic debut in London, where she overcame a series of setbacks to win in 2:18:33. The race on Sunday will be her first since the Olympics.

Jepkosgei clocked 2:16:24 last year, and Ethiopia’s Alemu ran 2:16:34, and they complete the sub-2:17 quartet contesting this year’s race. In addition to her third-place finish from last year, Jepkosgei won the 2021 London Marathon and finished runner-up in 2022.

They will be joined on the start line by Kenya’s 2018 London Marathon champion Cheruiyot, who returns to the race for the first time in five years. More recently, the 41-year-old multiple Olympic and world track medallist finished third at last year’s New York City Marathon.