The London Marathon Has Done It Again – Mouthwatering Elite Fields Have Been Assembled for 2025 Race
The race will feature the three fastest women in history, both Olympic champs, and Jacob Kiplimo's marathon debut
By Robert JohnsonThe London Marathon has done it again.
This morning as I was driving into work, I got a call from ace staff writer Jonathan Gault and he asked me, “Guess who is debuting in London this year?” I paused for a brief moment as my brain came up with the name of the person on planet Earth I’d be most excited to see debut.
I blurted out, “Jacob Kiplimo” — the two-time World XC champ and half marathon world record holder from Uganda, the only man in history to have broken 58:00 in the half three times.
“Correct,” said Jonathan.
Of course London got him. London almost always gets the best fields in the world of marathoning and they have certainly done it again in 2025. London is touting this year’s fields “as the greatest in the history of the event,” and they very well may be telling the truth, particularly if you consider all four of their fields together (they have all four reigning Olympic/Paralympic champions, though we at LetsRun.com do not pay attention to the wheelchair races).
I don’t particularly feel like going back and doing a day’s worth of research to definitively tell you if this year’s London is field is better than others in the past considering we’ve been debating which London field is the greatest for more than 20 years. But consider these facts about 2025 London:
- In addition to Kiplimo, the 2025 London men’s field will have six men with PBs under 2:04. That’s the most of any race in history and nothing new for London as 2025 will mark the fourth straight year their start line will feature six sub-2:04 guys.
- Included in the men’s field are the winners of five of the eight most prestigious marathons from 2024: London (Alexander Mutiso), the Olympics (Tamirat Tola), Berlin (Milkesha Mengesha), New York (Abdi Nageeye), and Valencia (Sabastian Sawe).
- The London women’s field will include the three fastest women in history as world record holder Ruth Chepngetich (2:09:56 pb), former world record holder and Olympic silver medallist Tigst Assefa (2:11:53 pb), and Olympic champ Sifan Hassan (2:13:44 pb) are all committed. As recently as September 2023, no woman had ever run a marathon under 2:14. Now we have three sub-2:14 women in the same race.
- If the “Big 3” women falter, there are plenty of worthy candidates to pick up the slack as London has three other women in the field who have broke 2:17. That would be reigning London champ and 2021 Olympic champ Peres Jepchirchir (2:16:16 pb), former New York and London winner Joyciline Jepkosgei (2:16:24 pb), and reigning Valencia champ Megertu Alemu (2:16:34 pb). Altogether, London has six sub-2:17 women in its field, the most of any race in history. No other marathon has ever had more than three (London had five sub-2:17 women last year).
So well done London.
The races 101 days from now will once again be fantastic.
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We know who’s running Boston and London. What about Tokyo?
The first World Marathon Major of 2025 will be Tokyo on March 2, which weirdly is always the last of the spring majors to reveal their elite fields. The Tokyo fields normally come out at the end of January.
Considering we now know who is running Boston and London for 2025, it made me think about which big names we’re still waiting to hear from.
Big men’s names yet to announce a 2025 spring marathon
- Benson Kipruto – The 2024 Tokyo champ is an obvious candidate to return in 2025.
- Joshua Cheptegei – The 5,000 and 10,000 world record holder and two-time Olympic champ on the track is still available. Considering he blew up in his marathon debut in Valencia in 2023, skipping a race as loaded as London 2025 is a smart call.
- Deresa Geleta – Geleta ran 2:02:38 in Valencia in December, so Tokyo seems like too quick of a turnaround. But he did win Seville last year in February.
- Eliud Kipchoge – The GOAT was 10th in Tokyo last year, then DNF’d the Olympics in August. Update: Kipchoge is going to London (his stats were already included above as the media was told ahead of time he’d be running)
Stephen Kiprop (2:03:37 in Berlin last year) and Morhad Amdouni (2:03:47 NR for France in Seville) are the only other sub-2:04 men from 2024 unaccounted for.
Big women’s names yet to announce a 2025 spring marathon
- Sutume Asefa – The defending Tokyo champ (2:15:55 pb) and 2024 world #2 is an obvious candidate to return to Tokyo.
- Tigist Ketema – The 2024 Dubai and Berlin champ (2:16:07 pb) ran London last spring but seems like a great option for Tokyo in 2025.
- Rosemary Wanjiru – The 2023 Tokyo champ and 2024 runner-up (2:16:14) was the fourth-fastest woman onf 2024 and is not committed to a spring race.
Talk about the 2025 London field on the world-famous LetsRun.com messageboard:
- Jacob Kiplimo to debut at 2025 London Marathon – Predictions?
- Hassan, Chepngetich, Assefa square off in London, a true Field of Dreams.
- Hassan, who will run London, on Chepngetich’s 2:09:56 WR: “I don’t care how [Ruth] did it, it just showed me it is possible.”
GREATEST FIELDS EVER PUT TOGETHER FOR HISTORIC 45TH EDITION OF TCS LONDON MARATHON |
Hugh Brasher, London Marathon Events CEO, describes the elite fields for the 2025 TCS London Marathon, released in full today (Thursday 16 January), as the greatest in the history of the event. Throughout this week, the TCS London Marathon has been announcing the athletes who will race at this year’s event, the historic 45th edition of the London Marathon, on Sunday 27 April. Those already confirmed include all four Olympic and Paralympic champions – Sifan Hassan (NED), Tamirat Tola (ETH), Catherine Debrunner (SUI) and Marcel Hug (SUI) – defending champions Alex Mutiso (KEN) and Peres Jepchirchir (KEN) and the owner of the stunning new women’s world record of 2:09:56, Ruth Chepngetich (KEN). Brits racing include Emile Cairess, the new home-grown star of marathon running, and David Weir and Eden Rainbow-Cooper in the wheelchair races. There is also great excitement in seeing how Olympic triathlon champion Alex Yee will fare on his marathon debut. Today, the TCS London Marathon reveals the complete elite fields for the 2025 TCS London Marathon which will include the first women’s marathon in history where three of the starters have run faster than 2:14. Joining Chepngetich (2:09:56) and Hassan (2:13:44) on the Start Line will be Tigst Assefa (ETH), the two-time BMW Berlin Marathon champion and Olympic Games silver medallist, whose personal best of 2:11:53 is the second fastest of all time for women. In what promises to be a showdown for the ages, the race will also include Joyciline Jepkosgei (KEN), the 2021 London Marathon champion, and Alemu Megertu (ETH), the two-time podium finisher at the London Marathon and winner of the 2024 Valencia Marathon. Jepkosgei and Megertu were third and fourth at the 2024 TCS London Marathon and bring the total of women in the field with PBs under 2:17 to a record-breaking six. There is an exciting marathon debut in the elite men’s race as Jacob Kiplimo (UGA) joins Tola, Cairess and Mutiso on the Start Line of his first 26.2-mile race. The 24-year-old is the reigning World Cross Country Champion and has won Olympic and World Championship medals over 10,000m on the track. He is also a double (5,000m and 10,000m) Commonwealth Games champion from Birmingham 2022 and is the second-fastest man in history over the half-marathon distance (57:31). Also confirmed for the elite men’s race is Sabastian Sawe (KEN), who ran the fifth-fastest time in history when he won the 2024 Valencia Marathon in 2:02:05 on his debut over the 26.2-mile distance; the reigning BMW Berlin Marathon champion, Milkesa Mengesha (ETH); and Timothy Kiplagat (KEN), who ran 2:02:55 to finish second at the 2024 Tokyo Marathon. Abdi Nageeye (NED), the reigning TCS New York City Marathon champion, is one of five national marathon record holders in the men’s field with his PB of 2:04:45 the fastest of a set which also includes Germany’s Amanal Petros (2:04:58), Norway’s Sondre Moen (2:05:48), Australia’s Andrew Buchanan (2:06:22) and Denmark’s Jacob Sommer Simonsen (2:07:51). Italy’s half marathon record holder, Yeman Crippa, is also among those heading to London. In the wheelchair categories, Manuela Schar (SUI), the three-time London Marathon champion, Susannah Scaroni (USA), the reigning TCS New York City Marathon champion, and Madison de Rozario (AUS) will all do battle with Debrunner in the women’s race while Daniel Romanchuk (USA), the reigning TCS New York City Marathon champion, will be challenging Hug and Weir in the men’s wheelchair race. Hugh Brasher, CEO of London Marathon Events, said: “This is quite simply the greatest elite field in the history of the London Marathon. We have all four Paralympic and Olympic marathon champions, not to mention an Olympic triathlon champion in Alex Yee. We are welcoming back all our defending champions and, excitingly, Ruth Chepngetich who produced one of the most outstanding athletic performances of all time when she became the first woman to run inside 2:10 at Chicago last year. “In Ruth, Sifan Hassan and Tigst Assefa we have the three fastest women of all time in the field in a thrilling showdown. All three have run inside 2:14 and no marathon in history has ever had a faster line-up. We are always proud when we hear athletes say that the TCS London Marathon is harder to win than the Olympic or Paralympic marathon. The reason they say that is because of the quality of the fields we assemble here in London and this year, our historic 45th edition, is stronger than ever before.” The 2025 TCS London Marathon will take place on Sunday 27 April. 2025 TCS London Marathon Entry Lists Elite Men
Elite Women
Elite Men Wheelchair
Elite Women Wheelchair
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