Assefa wins London Marathon women’s race after late breakaway

By Canadian Press on April 27, 2025.

LONDON (AP) — Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia secured her first London Marathon title Sunday after pulling away from Joyciline Jepkosgei near the end.

Assefa finished in an unofficial time of 2 hours, 15 minutes and 50 seconds, the fastest ever in a women’s-only marathon — but 25 seconds slower than the course record set by Paula Radcliffe in 2003 when it was a mixed race.

Assefa finished second both in London and at the Paris Olympics last year but adds this title to two Berlin Marathon wins. Unlike in Paris, she made sure there would be no sprint finish this time as she left Jepkosgei behind with a few kilometers left and ran alone along the Thames and through central London to the finish in front of Buckingham Palace.

Jepkosgei, the 2021 London winner, was almost three minutes back. Olympic champion Sifan Hassan was third.

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The Associated Press