2026 - London's best ever marathon?

Record-breaking London Marathon - 11th May 2026

With a record-breaking time of one hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds, Sabastian Sawe won the 2026 London Marathon. An achievement once considered impossible, the Kenyan athlete completed the 42.195-kilometre distance in less than two hours, knocking over a minute off the previous record.

Sawe's record was just one of many that were set at this year's marathon. In the women's race, Ethiopian runner Tigst Assefa broke her own women-only world record with a time of two hours, 15 minutes and 41 seconds, while Swiss athlete Marcel Hug won the men's wheelchair race for the sixth consecutive year.

Professional athletes weren't the only ones who set new records. The 2026 event started with 66,393 participants, representing 173 different countries, with ages ranging from 18 to 88. Yet another world record was shattered when a total of 59,830 runners crossed the finishing line.

The majority of runners raise money for a particular charity, but some choose to make the massive challenge even more demanding. Runner Simon Fannon was knitting while running the entire course, in support of Huntingdon's disease. After nearly six hours, he had created a scarf measuring 5.59 metres, thereby setting a new Guinness World Record.

Meanwhile, Jordan Adams ran weighed down with a 25-kilogram fridge strapped to his back - to raise awareness and funds for dementia, a disease which he lost his own mother to, and for which he carries the gene.

The total amount raised by this London Marathon has already smashed the record and is likely to hit almost £90 million. It brings the overall money raised, since the event was established, to an incredible £1.4 billion.

The 2027 race promises to continue this record-breaking trend. With 1,133,813 potential runners already on the list for next year, the possibility of a two-day event is being discussed.