London’s streets pulsed with energy on April 27, 2025, as the 45th TCS London Marathon unfolded under a blazing spring sun. Over 56,000 runners—elite athletes, charity crusaders, and everyday dreamers—tackled the 26.2-mile course, making it the largest marathon in the world, potentially eclipsing New York’s record of 55,646 finishers. From Greenwich Park to the finish line on The Mall, the capital’s landmarks framed a day of grit, glory, and a stunning world record.
The elite races kicked off early, with the wheelchair events setting a fierce pace. At 8:50 a.m. local time, Swiss dynamo Marcel Hug, nicknamed “The Silver Bullet,” powered through the men’s wheelchair race, clinching his seventh London title and fifth consecutive win in 1:25:12. His compatriot Catherine Debrunner matched his dominance, securing her third women’s wheelchair crown in 1:39:45, leaving Japan’s Tomoki Suzuki and others trailing. Both races showcased the relentless precision of Paralympic champions, with Hug fresh off his eighth Boston Marathon victory just days earlier on April 21.
The women’s elite race, starting at 9:05 a.m., delivered the day’s biggest shock. Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa, the Paris 2024 silver medalist, obliterated the women’s-only world record, crossing the line in 2:14:58—a blistering 18 seconds faster than Peres Jepchirchir’s 2024 mark of 2:16:16. Assefa, wearing Adidas’s £450 Adios Adizero Pro Evo shoes, surged past Olympic champion Sifan Hassan and Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei, who faded late but held on for second and third. Britain’s Eilish McColgan, making her marathon debut, carved her own slice of history, finishing eighth in 2:24:25, smashing her mother Liz’s Scottish record from the 1990s by over two minutes.
At 9:35 a.m., the men’s elite race and mass start launched, with Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe stealing the show. The 30-year-old, a late bloomer who turned pro at 27, unleashed a ferocious attack at Canary Wharf, clocking a 4:18 split at mile 20. His time of 2:02:27, also in Adidas’s Pro Evo shoes, was the second-fastest in London’s history, just shy of Kelvin Kiptum’s 2023 course record of 2:01:25. Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo, debuting after his half-marathon world record in February, took second in 2:03:10, while defending champion Alexander Mutiso Munyao grabbed third. Eliud Kipchoge, the four-time winner and marathon legend, faded to seventh in 2:05:24, his first London appearance since 2020 showing flashes of brilliance but no fairy-tale finish.
The mass race, a chaotic tapestry of costumes and causes, saw runners like Alex Paget, a brain injury survivor from Clapham, chase a Guinness World Record as the fastest male dressed as a body part—a giant brain, no less. A four-man team dressed as Scooby-Doo’s Mystery Machine aimed for the fastest time in a four-person costume. Angus Leckonby, diagnosed with severe autism at age two, ran for two world records, his story gripping viewers on BBC One’s live coverage. Over 1,500 runners with disabilities joined, marking the most inclusive London Marathon yet.
Warm weather, hitting 21°C by afternoon, tested runners’ resolve. Race director Hugh Brasher urged caution, advising lightweight gear and slower paces. Two Youth Demand protesters briefly disrupted the men’s race on Tower Bridge, tossing red paint, but were swiftly cleared. The day’s fundraising haul, expected to top 2024’s £67 million, underscored the event’s status as the world’s biggest one-day charity drive.
Live coverage began at 8:30 a.m. on BBC One, switching to BBC Two at 2:00 p.m., with Gabby Logan anchoring alongside commentators Andrew Cotter, Steve Cram, Paula Radcliffe, and Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson. BBC iPlayer streamed Tower Bridge from 10:30 a.m. and the finish line from 12:30 p.m., while a highlights show aired at 6:00 p.m. on BBC Two. In the U.S., FloTrack and the FloSports app carried the race from 3:30 a.m. ET, with ESPN2 and ESPN3 also broadcasting. The London Marathon app offered real-time tracking.
Winners earned $55,000 each, with $30,000 for second and $22,500 for third. A $112,000 bonus awaited any man under 2:02:00 or woman under 2:15:00—Assefa pocketed it. The course, flat and fast, wound past Tower Bridge, Canary Wharf, and Big Ben, ending at Buckingham Palace. Over 840,000 applied for the 2025 ballot, a record, with the 2026 ballot closing May 2.