2026 - London's best ever marathon?

Record-breaking London Marathon - 11th May 2026

At the 2026 London Marathon, Kenyan runner Sabastian Sawe took first place. With a time of one hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds, he broke the world record for the 42.195-kilometre race. The athlete took a minute off the previous record and in doing so, he achieved something unbelievable: a marathon in under two hours.

Sawe's record was just the start. Ethiopian runner Tigst Assefa broke the record for a women-only race when she successfully completed it in two hours, 15 minutes and 41 seconds. Meanwhile, in the men's wheelchair race, athlete Marcel Hug won for the sixth year since 2021.

However, the 2026 marathon wasn't just about professional athletes. At the starting line, there were 66,393 runners, aged between 18 and 88, who represented 173 countries. And because 59,830 people managed to finish the race, another world record was smashed.

Most runners enter the race for their favourite charity, but some give themselves an even greater challenge. One runner, Simon Fannon, knitted a 5.59-metre-long scarf while he was running, to support charities for Huntingdon's disease.

Another man, Jordan Adams, ran with a 25-kilogram fridge on his back. He had decided to run to raise funds for dementia, a disease which his own mother died from.

At nearly £90 million, the London 2026 Marathon has also beaten its record for fundraising. Since the city event started, it has raised £1.4 billion for charities.

And it seems 2027 is going to be another record-breaking year. The race has already received entries from 1,133,813 hopeful runners.