London Marathon: 5 Kenyans to lead elite women in targeting new record

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London Marathon: 5 Kenyans to lead elite women in targeting new record

Wednesday 06th March, 2024 03:41 PM| By Joel Sang

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At the 2024 London Marathon, three of the top four fastest women in history will spearhead a campaign to set a new women’s-only world record on Sunday, April 21.

Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia will lead the elite group, and she is one of the favourites after her victory in Berlin in September 2023. The new world record holder broke the previous best mark of 2:14:04 that was set by Brigid Kosgei in 2019.

Assefa and Brigid Kosgei are expected to offer a spectacle when they clash in London as they lead other rivals in the campaign to break the world record for the marathon distance, which has stood for seven years since Mary Keitany of Kenya ran 2:17:01 at the 2017 London Marathon.

The fourth-fastest woman of all time (2:14:18), Ruth Chepng’etich, Peres Jepchirchir, the reigning Olympic champion, and Yalemzerf Yehualaw of Ethiopia, the 2022 London Marathon champion, are other top athletes set to feature.

Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa in a past action. PHOTO/London Marathon

Event Director of the London Marathon, Hugh Brasher believes the 2024 participants are going to break the record this time around.

“We are in a golden age of women’s marathon running. When Paula Radcliffe ran her incredible world record of 2:15:25 at the 2003 London Marathon, we had to wait 16 years for Brigid Kosgei to beat it.

“But since then, a further four women have run faster than Paula’s time, including Tigst Assefa, who lowered the world record even further with her stunning run in Berlin last year.

“Despite this, the women’s-only world record of 2:17:01, set by the great Mary Keitany here at the London Marathon in 2017, has amazingly stayed intact.

“However, I suspect that with Assefa, Kosgei, and the likes of Ruth Chepng’etich, Peres Jepchirchir, and Yalemzerf Yehualaw in the field, where a total of ten women have run under 2 hours, 17 minutes, and 30 seconds, Keitany’s world record is going to be under serious threat at the 2024 TCS London Marathon,” he said.

Pacemakers will be tasked with keeping the leading women on track for the women’s-only world record, which is possible at the TCS London Marathon as the elite women run a separate race from the elite men and masses.