Kenyan duo Peres Jepchirchir and Brigid Kosgei and Ethiopian athlete Tigst Assefa will be among the big stars in the women’s London Marathon on April 21. The African trio will attempt to attack Mary Jepkosgei Keitany’s world record of 2:17:01 hours from the 2017 London Marathon.
Peres Jepchirchir is the reigning Olympic champion, while Tigst Assefa equaled Brigid Kosgei’s world marathon record set in a mixed event. Tigst Assefa ran 2:11:53 hours at the Berlin Marathon last September, bettering Brigid Kosgei’s previous best of 2:14:04 hours from 2019.
The 2019 world marathon champion Ruth Chepng’etich, who is the world’s fourth fastest woman of all time (2:14:18 hours), will also start. On April 21, the 2022 London Marathon champion Yalemzerf Yehualaw (Ethiopia) will also be on the starting line.
“We are in the golden age of women’s marathon running. When Paula Jane Radcliffe achieved her incredible world record of 2:15:25 hours at the London Marathon in 2003, we had to wait 16 years for Brigid Kosgey to beat it”, said the director of the London Marathon. “But since then, four other women have run faster than Paula’s time, including Tigst Assefa, who took the world record further down with her stunning run in Berlin last year. However, the women-only world record of 2:17:01, set by the great Mary Keitany here at the 2017 London Marathon, amazingly remained intact. I suspect that Keitany’s world record will be under serious threat”, added he.
