Sports
Tigist Assefa leads London Marathon elite women field
Defending champion Assefa faces Olympic champ Sifan Hassan and world gold medallist Peres Jepchirchir, plus Hellen Obiri, Joyciline Jepkosgei and Julia Paternain.
Tigist Assefa, the defending champion and women-only world record holder, will return to the TCS London Marathon in April where she will face arch-rivals Sifan Hassan and Peres Jepchirchir – the reigning Olympic and World champions.
Since Assefa (ETH) arrived on the major marathon circuit in 2022, she has raced both the TCS London Marathon and BMW Berlin Marathon twice, plus the 2024 Olympic Games and 2025 World Championships marathons.
During that three-and-a-half year streak, Assefa has chalked up two wins in Berlin, including setting a then world record time of 2:11:53 in 2023; secured a first title in London, setting a women-only world record time of 2:15:50 in the process; and has not finished outside the top two in any of the six marathons.
But the defeats have all come in heartbreaking in fashion and at the hands of two foes: Hassan and Jepchirchir.
Jepchirchir (KEN) defeated Assefa in a tight sprint finish at the 2024 TCS London Marathon and then, again, in an even closer finale at the 2025 World Championships marathon in Tokyo. Hassan, meanwhile, out-kicked Assefa in the closing stages of an epic 2024 Olympic Games marathon in Paris.
For the first time since that Olympic Games marathon, all three athletes will be on the same Start Line when the 2026 TCS London Marathon lights up the capital on Sunday 26 April, with Assefa looking to avenge the pain of past defeats.
Assefa said: “Winning last year’s TCS London Marathon and setting a women-only world record was one of the proudest moments of my career and I want to repeat that again this year. To do that I know I will have to beat great champions like Peres and Sifan. They have been tough competitors for me and we have had some great battles, I hope that this year I can come out on top.”
Hassan and Jepchirchir are both past London Marathon champions with Hassan winning in 2023 and Jepchirchir in 2024. Hassan won the 2024 Olympic Games marathon title in dramatic fashion (after already winning two medals on the track at the same Games) and has also triumphed at a further two Abbott World Marathon majors: the Bank of America Chicago Marathon in 2023 and Sydney Marathon in 2025.
Jepchirchir is now the world champion at both the marathon and half-marathon world distances, with the marathon title she won in Tokyo adding to the half-marathon title she won in Riga in 2023. She has also won the Boston Marathon (2022), TCS New York City Marathon (2021) and was the Olympic marathon champion at Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021).
Joining the leading trio are two Kenyans who will arrive in London in red-hot form: Joyciline Jepkosgei and Hellen Obiri.
Jepkosgei, the 2021 TCS London Marathon champion, ran the fourth-fastest time in history to win the 2025 Valencia Marathon in 2:14:00, after a thrilling duel with Jepchirchir.
Obiri, who is making her TCS London Marathon debut, has two TCS New York City Marathon titles (2023 and 2025) and two Boston Marathon victories to her name (2023 and 2024) since moving up to the marathon distance.
The Kenyan’s most recent New York City Marathon win, last November, saw her take nearly three minutes off the course record, finishing in 2:19:51. Obiri finished third in the Paris Olympic Games marathon, behind Hassan and Assefa, and has two World Championships 5000m titles to her name on the track.
Uruguay’s Julia Paternain will ensure that the full complement of medallists from last year’s World Championships will be on the start line in London.
It will be a homecoming of sorts for Paternain who was brought up in the UK and a member of Cambridge & Coleridge AC. She successfully competed in both the Mini London Marathon and the Vitality Westminster Mile on the same roads as the iconic closing stages of the TCS London Marathon.
She finished second in the under-17 women’s race at the 2017 Mini London Marathon and won the Vitality Westminster Mile in the same age category later the same year.
READ MORE: Julia Paternain interview
Paternain made worldwide headlines at last year’s World Championships when she crossed the finish line in the Tokyo Olympic Stadium unaware that she had won a bronze medal – the first medal of any kind won by Uruguay.
These international stars add to the strong domestic field announced earlier this week, which includes Eilish McColgan, Jess Warner-Judd and Abbie Donnelly.
Hugh Brasher, CEO of London Marathon Events, said: “For the past two years, the women-only world record has been broken at the TCS London Marathon and with the calibre of athletes we have coming to London this April, it would be no surprise if the record of 2:15:50 set by Tigst Assefa last year is broken once again.
“With the full set of medallists from the Paris Olympic Games – Sifan Hassan, Assefa and Hellen Obiri – the reigning world champion, Peres Jepchirchir, and Joyciline Jepkosgei, who was the fastest woman in the world over the marathon distance last year, it promises to be a spectacular race.”
The elite women’s field line-up is the penultimate announcement of 2026 TCS London Marathon elite week with the elite men line-up being revealed tomorrow (Thursday January 29).
2026 TCS London Marathon elite women entry list
- Tigst Assefa (ETH, PB 2:11:53)
- Sifan Hassan (NED, 2:13:44)
- Joyciline Jepkosgei (KEN, 2:14:00)
- Peres Jepchirchir (KEN, 2:14:43)
- Megertu Alemu (ETH, 2:16:34)
- Hellen Obiri (KEN, 2:17:41)
- Degitu Azimeraw (ETH, 2:17:58)
- Catherine Relin Amanang’ole (KEN, 2:20:34)
- Charlotte Purdue (GBR, 2:22:17)
- Laura Luengo (ESP, 2:22:31)
- Rose Harvey (GBR, 2:23:21)
- Abbie Donnelly (GBR, 2:24:11)
- Florencia Borelli (ARG, 2:24:18)
- Eilish McColgan (GBR, 2:24:25)
- Jessica Warner-Judd (GBR, 2:24:45)
- Fadouwa Ledhem (FRA, 2:25:50)
- Marta Galimany (ESP, 2:26:14)
- Lucy Reid (GBR, 2:26:35)
- Julia Paternain (URU, 2:27:09)
- Louise Small (GBR, 2:27:48)
- Alice Wright (GBR, 2:28:48)
- Verity Hopkins (GBR, 2:31:19)
