This year, the Yorkshireman is targeting Mo Farah’s national marathon mark of 2:05:11 in London, but insists he has bigger targets in mind.
Emile Cares is very specific about one of the targets he will have in mind when he steps up to the start line of the London Marathon again on April 26. The 28-year-old plans to take a healthy chunk off his PB of 2:06:46 by laying down. Mo Farah’s British record: 2:05:11which was set in Chicago in 2018, and in doing so broke the record for the fastest time by a Briton in the London Marathon (Farah’s 2:05:39 from 2019).
But Kires wants more than that. He is delighted that British standards are rising and that this year’s domestic battle in his home marathon major will include four athletes who have run under 2:07, as well as: New York’s fourth-ranked Patrick Dever.
However, the man who finished third in London two years ago has wider horizons than being crowned his country’s marathon king. He has designs on establishing himself as a contender on the world marathon stage.
It looked like she was doing just that in 2024 following her catwalk performance in London fourth place at the Paris Olympics. However, an ankle tendon injury meant he missed a significant chunk of training last year and his only marathon outing in 2025 came in the sweltering heat and humidity at the world championships in Tokyo, where he failed to finish.
Illness may have prevented him from joining the record-breaking extravaganza in the final 10km of Valencia, but Keires insists he is back and better than ever. His strength was highlighted when he clocked 2:06:37 for pacesetter Alex Yee in Valencia. marathon in December, a mark which meant the Olympic triathlon champion leapfrogged him into second place in the all-time British marathon rankings.
If Keires has his way, that ranking will soon need realignment, and the Yorkshireman betrayed his ambitions when he explained why he chose not to run the full marathon in Spain.
“I was the pacemaker for the 2:06 group, so my first job was to get to 30km at the pace they were asking for,” he said during a media call to announce his return to London in the spring. “When I got to 30km, my mind was more on (my friend) Phil (Sezman) and trying to make sure I did the best for him to have a good race.
“I wasn’t tempted to finish at all because to say I finished and took it a bit, it would just be a small PB and it doesn’t reflect where I’m at. If I saw my name on the results and it said 2:06, and I was two minutes behind an athlete like Amanal Petros (second in 2:04:03) in 2:04:24) I would have been disappointed, I definitely wouldn’t have been tempted to finish.”
Answering a question about the British marathon standards, Keires added: “It’s good to see that we’re getting to a much better level than maybe five or six years ago. We now have four athletes under 2:08 and although Paddy (Dever) hasn’t run that fast, he’s only done one (marathon) and that was definitely a much faster race that was faster in New York. The British are running, so good for everyone.
“But then, as far as the competition is concerned, I always keep my eyes ahead and try to compete with the best Kenyans and Ethiopians. That’s where I’m looking. I’m not really focused on being the best of the British and I think that kind of mentality leads to performances on a bigger scale. That’s where I’m at.”
Doing so would mean bridging a significant gap. The men’s race was in London last year beat Kenyan Sebastian Soi with a score of 2:02:27for example, and African dominance continues when it comes to the marathon scene. However, Keires believes there is a noticeable change in mindset among European hopefuls.
“(Ugandan’s Jacob) Kiplimo really broke the half marathon record and (Kenya’s Kelvin) Kiptum really brought it to the marathon, but it was more that the Europeans maybe didn’t believe in themselves as much and then maybe didn’t invest as much in training as they do now, because I think one or two athletes can change their minds.
“It snowballs in the sense that more athletes perform well, then there’s more belief. My coach also talks about athletes in the 80s and how we already had athletes like Seb Coe running 3:29 for 1500m and a lot of guys running 27:30 (for 10,000m) maybe we were really struggling to train and I think we were really struggling to train. people are now back to it.”
Cairess also has ambitions at the track this summer. He plans to link up with world bronze medalist and European 10km and half marathon record holder Andreas Almgren to prepare for the Commonwealth and European 10,000m Championships. All that will come after London, though, where it’s hoped all his training will pay off.
“I feel like I was kind of in shape around the 2024 Olympics (British marathon record) and I’ve been doing a lot of training since then. I’ve improved a lot, I’ve been a bit unlucky in the way that I haven’t been able to show it. I’m aiming to run as fast as I can and hopefully that’s a British record.
“When you have a good year like 2024, people naturally expect things to just keep going, but that’s not always the case. It’s just part of being an athlete, and I think if you can’t deal with setbacks, you’re usually not going to be at a good level.”
2026 TCS London Marathon. British men’s participation list
(Personal bests in parentheses)
Emil Kayres (2:06:46)
Mohamed Mohamed (2:07:05)
Philip Seseman (2:07:10)
Patrick Dever (2:08:58)
Great Gebresilasia (2:09:50)
Tevelde Menges (2:09:58)
George James (2:10:10)
Jake Smith (2:11:00)
Mark Scott (2:11:19)
Jack Rowe (2:12:31)
Andrew Fife (2:13:20)
Alex Milne (2:14:03)
Peter Le Grice (2:14:45)
Sean Hogan (2:14:51)
Christopher Thomas (2:14:55)
Jake Barraclough (2:14:55)
Chris Perry (2:14:57)
David Bishop (2:15:16)
Charlie Sandison (2:15:38)
William Mycroft (2:15:54)
Alfie Manthorpe (debut)
