Sebastian Sawe of Kenya and Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia delivered commanding performances to win the 2025 London Marathon on Sunday as unseasonably warm temperatures challenged the elite field.
Sawe claimed the men’s title in only his first appearance at a major marathon as he finished in 2 hours, 2 minutes and 27 seconds.
He made a decisive move just after the 30-kilometer mark to pull away from a leading pack and never looked back.
Sawe’s strategy of skipping a drinks station while others slowed proved critical as he extended his lead and maintained a strong pace to the finish line.
Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda, the half-marathon world record holder, finished 70 seconds behind Sawe. Defending champion Alexander Mutiso of Kenya edged out Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands in a photo finish to secure third place.
Sawe becomes the fourth consecutive Kenyan winner of the London men’s race and his victory confirms his arrival as a new force in marathon running.
Before London Sawe’s only marathon victory came in Valencia in 2024. Speaking after the race, Sawe said discipline training and trust in the process had been key to his rapid rise.
In the women’s race, Tigst Assefa broke away late from Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei to win her first London Marathon title. Assefa finished in 2 hours, 15 minutes and 50 seconds to record the fastest time ever in a women’s-only marathon.
The time was 25 seconds slower than Paula Radcliffe’s 2003 mixed-race record but still marked a significant achievement for the Ethiopian runner.
Assefa, who finished second in London and at the Paris Olympics in 2024, said the warmer weather this year played to her advantage after battling muscle tightness in colder conditions last season.
Her victory adds to two previous Berlin Marathon titles and reaffirms her position among the world’s top female distance runners.
In the wheelchair categories, defending champions Catherine Debrunner and Marcel Hug of Switzerland retained their titles. Debrunner won the women’s race in 1 hour 34 minutes and 18 seconds, narrowly missing her own world record by just two seconds.
Hug finished the men’s race in 1 hour 25 minutes and 25 seconds, holding off a strong challenge from Japan’s Tomoki Suzuki.
The London Marathon once again highlighted the dominance of East African runners on the global stage with Sawe and Assefa delivering memorable victories under challenging race conditions.
