London, 27 April 2025 – Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa delivered a historic performance at the TCS London Marathon, setting a new women-only world record with a remarkable time of 2:15:50.
Competing in the prestigious World Athletics Platinum Label road race, Assefa stormed away from Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei in the final stages to claim her maiden London Marathon victory. She erased the previous women-only world record of 2:16:16, set by Peres Jepchirchir last year, by an impressive 26 seconds.
Olympic champion Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands finished third, clocking 2:18:59, following Jepkosgei’s 2:18:43 runner-up performance.
From the very beginning, the pace was blistering. A lead group featuring Assefa, Jepkosgei, Hassan, and Ethiopia’s Megertu Alemu blazed through 5km in 15:34 — faster than the targeted sub-2:15 rhythm. At the halfway mark, Assefa and Jepkosgei began to separate from the pack, reaching it in 1:06:40.
As the race progressed, Assefa unleashed a decisive move after 35km, surging ahead with a rapid 5:03 24th mile. By the 40km mark, she had established a commanding 56-second lead and powered home in a time that now stands among the greatest marathon performances in history.
This is the third-fastest marathon of Assefa’s career, behind her 2:11:53 world record in a mixed race set in Berlin 2023, and her 2:15:37 from Berlin 2022.
Shortly after Assefa’s triumph, Kenya’s Sebastian Sawe claimed victory in the men’s race with a stunning 2:02:27, the second-fastest time ever recorded at the London Marathon. Uganda’s half-marathon world record-holder Jacob Kiplimo impressed on his marathon debut, finishing second in 2:03:37.
The records achieved today are subject to official ratification.
