Live London Marathon 2025 live: ‘Super shoes' could see records tumble

Telegraph

27-04-2025

27 April 2025 8:03am
8:03AM
The race route and its right royal finish
The London Marathon route follows its usual course, starting in Greenwich and Blackheath where entrants are split into three lines which converge at the three-mile mark. The route heads east into Woolwich, then back west towards Greenwich town centre, through Rotherhithe, Deptford and Bermondsey.
From there it crosses north over Tower Bridge, which signals the approximate halfway mark. The landmark is transformed into a tunnel of noise by the thronged, vocal crowds there.
Athletes then complete a circuit around Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs before the course runs west along the north bank of the Thames on Victoria Embankment past the Tower of London towards Trafalgar Square and onto the Mall where it finishes in front of Buckingham Palace.
Some of London's most famous landmarks feature on the course.
Cutty Sark, mile six
Tower Bridge, mile 12
Tower of London, mile 22
London Eye, mile 25
Big Ben, mile 25
Buckingham Palace, mile 26
7:57AM
When does the marathon start?
The various races set off at staggered times. Start times below:
8.50am (BST) - the elite wheelchair men's and women's races
9.05am - the elite women's race
9.35am - the elite men's race and the masses
Runners will cross the start line in Greenwich in a sequence of waves until 11.30am. Spare a thought for those in heavy or hefty costumes, as the mercury is set to rise to over 20 degrees Celsius this afternoon.
7:50AM
There's nothing like the London Marathon
From the marathon legends and wheelchair elites threatening to break records to the running fancy dress rhinoceroses, postboxes, celebrities and athletes of all shape and size slightly further back raising millions of pounds, it is sport and society in perfect harmony.
An estimated 56,000 participants are set to start in Greenwich on a sunny morning in the British capital, potentially making it the world's largest ever marathon.
At the front of the pack, Olympic champion Sifan Hassan, former world record holder Tigst Assefa and Joyciline Jepkosgei are the favourites for the women's event.
'London is a great memory for me that I can never forget about. I have Olympic gold, but London is still just something I can't forget; it is amazing,' Hassan said in the pre-race press conference.
'I have worked really hard and am in good shape and I hope to do something better, but I don't want any drama,' she said, referring to her 2023 victory in which she dropped back twice before returning to the front to win.
In the men's race, Sabastian Sawe of Kenya and Olympic champion Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia will push one another close. The Kenyan won the Valencia marathon in December on debut over the 26.2-mile distances. His time of 2hr 2mins 5secs was the fastest of 2024.
With new super shoes on their feet helping them to go even quicker - more on those shortly - the course record could well fall, and possibly even the world standard.
Defending champion Alexander Mutiso Munyao and marathon GOAT and four-time London Marathon winner Eliud Kipchoge, the man who set the first ever sub-2 hour marathon, should not be discounted either.
'London is the biggest marathon ever, I am coming here to support London's good causes,' Kipchoge said on Thursday. 'It is about the charity events being done . . . the London Marathon is a movement by itself and I am supporting that movement, the movement of running a marathon.'
Then there are the debutants. Jacob Kiplimo (Uganda) could steal the show, stoking the hype machine with a 56:42 half-marathon in February, slashing the world record.
As for home interest? Mahamed Mahamed and Phil Sesemann will likely be vying to be the fastest Briton home.
Then there is the thrill of the unknown quantities. Alex Yee won the Olympic triathlon last summer and the Briton is making his marathon debut here, hoping to go under 2hr. Another to keep an eye on is Eilish McColgan, the daughter of athletics royalty Liz, making her marathon bow.