10 Parting Thoughts From The 2025 London Marathon

By Chris Chavez

It was a warm spring morning along the Thames, but the 2025 London Marathon still delivered record-breaking performances and major breakthroughs. Former marathon world record holder and Olympic silver medalist Tigst Assefa pulled away late to win her first London title, clocking 2:15:50 — the fastest time ever in a women-only marathon. 

In the men’s race, Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe stormed to victory in his major marathon debut, winning in 2:02:27 to cap a thrilling day in the British capital.

Here are some quick parting thoughts from this year’s London Marathon:

1. So…Is Sabastian Sawe The Best Marathoner In The World?

We’re one week removed from asking ourselves this same question about Boston champ John Korir. In a race packed with legends, Sawe didn’t just win — he demolished the field. His 2:02:27 is the second-fastest time ever in London and the way he slammed the hammer down after 30K (13:56 split to 35K – including a 4:18 at Mile 20) was pure, unrelenting dominance. 

We’re currently looking for who is taking up the mantle as the world’s best marathoner following the death of Kelvin Kiptum, who opened up his marathoning career with a 2:01:53 victory at the Valencia Marathon before winning the London Marathon in 2:01:25 the following spring. What’s Sawe now done in his marathoning career? Sawe won his debut in Valencia in 2:02:05 and then put together a commanding victory in London. We’ll see if Sawe opts to continue following the Kiptum career trajectory and chases the world record in Chicago (something Korir expressed interest in on the CITIUS MAG Podcast last week) or chooses to go to Berlin, where the world record had been lowered eight consecutive times from 2003 to 2022. It would be less fun to have two world record attempts just weeks apart, which seems possible or even likely. Sawe is an Adidas athlete so he could be pushed to the Adidas-backed Berlin Marathon, whereas Korir will likely be back in Chicago as the reigning champion. 

2. Jacob Kiplimo’s Marathon Future Is Bright

There was a lot of curiosity around Jacob Kiplimo’s debut given how great he’s been at the half marathon with a 56:42 world record. On Sunday, he delivered, running 2:03:37 for second place. Even though he was a little further back when Sawe blasted off, he kept his composure and closed hard in the final stretch. He crossed the finish line smiling with the Ugandan national record to his name and knowing very well that he will be a serious threat at 26.2 miles in the future.

3. Kipchoge Has Still Got It

I’ll admit that I thought Eliud Kipchoge hung with the men’s lead pack for much longer than I expected. His sixth-place finish in 2:05:25 at age 40 isn’t up to his past standards, but it’s still impressive. From his pre-and post-race interviews this weekend, it seems like he’s adjusting to this new chapter of his career with humbleness. He’s openly admitting that the younger guys are better than him. He wants to see more guys running closer to the world record. He has nothing left to prove. He will continue on his world tour as this global ambassador for the love of running (A reading from the gospel according to Eliud! Kipchoge 26:2 would be a good Bible verse!) Next stop: Sydney.

5. Tigst Assefa Adds Another Chapter To Her Legend

Winning in 2:15:50 to break the women-only world record and cash in a $305,000 check? Not a bad day’s work. Assefa started out at a crazy hot pace, including an unofficial split of 4:32 for the slightly downhill third mile where she was encouraging the pacers to go much faster than the officially planned pace. Assefa survived a brutal second half better than the field and proved once again she’s the queen of late-race destruction. She even dropped a 5:03 mile at mile 24, her third fastest mile of the day.

6. Joyciline Jepkosgei: Fighter 'Til The End

Jepkosgei hung on for second in 2:18:44, battling the heat, cramps, and a fast early pace. Considering how poor she looked at the end and the fact that it was Jepkosgei’s highest finish in a major since her run at the same race in 2022, this was a good run for the Kenyan.

7. Sifan Hassan Is Human, But Still Dangerous

After a four month break  from training post-Olympics, Hassan showed she’s still elite — just not invincible. She faded hard after halfway but still clocked 2:19:00 for third. Post-race, she mentioned struggling to breathe from early in the race and that the lack of race sharpness meant she had more or less forgotten how to close the gap after an early move from a rival. Her coach mentioned her fitness only really came around after the end of Ramadan at the end of March. Expect fireworks once she sharpens up for track season where she plans to see how fast she can go in a 1500m but didn’t seem wild about my pitch for her to quadruple at a Grand Slam meet. 

8. Eilish McColgan: Marathoner, Finally

It wasn’t the dream debut, but it was a meaningful one: 2:24:25, a Scottish record, and proof that McColgan belongs in this next chapter of distance running. She ended up running around 24 miles of the race solo and said she had come into this race deliberately undercooked in terms of training with the focus on just making the start line.  However, she still came away with the family honors, beating her mom’s (or mum’s) time of 2:26:52 and breaking the Scottish record of 2:26:40.

9. Alex Yee: Triathletes Can Be Good Marathoners Too

On a baking hot day (for the Brits anyhow) Olympic triathlon champion Alex Yee came in second Brit home in 2:11:08 after spending much of the race on pace for 2:08. He hasn’t ruled out the possibility of a second marathon later this year to see how far he can push himself, with the focus of the year being to improve the ‘run’ part of his triathlon.

10. London Showed Why It’s the Best Stage In The Sport

Once again, London gathered the best in the world — and once again, the marathon gods delivered drama, dominance, heartbreak, and new records. And the race got to claim its own world record as the largest marathon in history with 56,640 finishers – surpassing the 2024 NYC Marathon (55,646) from last November. Expect the New Yorkers to try and take it back this fall.

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