The first official two-hour marathon stats

After completing his 45th London Marathon, Steve Smith looks at some of the facts and figures behind his momentous day in the British capital.

Sunday’s 46th London Marathon proved beyond doubt that London hosts the world’s greatest marathon.

The organisation, the course, the world record number of finishers, the most elite fields, the crowds, the infrastructure and the television coverage provided stunning racing and world records.

Sebastian Soi produced one of the most memorable performances in athletics history, breaking the two-hour barrier that many thought was impossible just a few years ago.

Yes, Eliud Kipchoge, the world’s greatest ever marathoner, achieved it in non-race conditions in 2019, thanks to the speed of the arrows forming and such, but nobody really thought it would be possible to achieve it in normal London race conditions.

Soi is an amazing talent, but it’s hard to get your head around the fact that he would leave former world record holders like Paul Tergat and Haile Gebrselassie more than a mile behind.

Given that the pair are still third and fourth all-time in the 10,000m in 1997 and 1998 respectively, they are only 125th and 43rd behind their much later marathon world records of 2003 and 2008.

I think it shows that the super shoes have a bigger impact in the marathon, but also that the financial rewards attract better athletes to the road.

In London, 10,000m world record holder Joshua Cheptegei was just 12th in 2:06:39, seven minutes behind So.

The reason it was so surprising to many at the time is that, although London has seen many records broken over the years, it has 20 small climbs, is quite twisty, and the likes of Valencia, Berlin and Chicago are considered faster.

London is down slightly overall and point-to-point overall, but not enough in either case to knock him off the record.

The temperature, although too warm for most of the masses, was fine if you could finish at 11.30am and very unusually there was an easterly wind so there was much more of a tail wind than normal.

The pacemaking was perfect, but the reason for the record was Save’s astonishing finishing pace, pushed by Yomif Kelelcha. Some divisions are included…

10 km28:35

20 km: 57:21 (28:46)

30 km: 86:03 (28:42)

40 km 1:53:39 (27:36)

27:36 from 30km to 10km was followed by 5:51 for the last 2195m, a 26:40 10km pace.

Soi’s first race in the stat is 3:51.01 1500m in Kampala aged 22 in 2018, and then the following year (now 24) he finished seventh in the Kenyan 5000m in 13:42.28.

There was no sign he was going to be world champion until 2022, when he won the half-marathons in Seville (59:02), Ostia (58:02) and Manama (58:58), but was only sixth in Valencia in 59:23, ahead of Kibiwot Kandi (58:10).

That year Save also ran 26:54 in the 10km road, 27:09.46 in the 10,000m at Maia and ran world bests in the 20km (56:20.55) and one hour (21,250m) track.

In 2023, he finished seventh at the World Championships in Bathurst and ran a 10km best of 26:49, and had half-marathon victories in Berlin (59:00) and the World Championships in Riga (59:10). However, in Valencia, despite running 58:29, he was again a good 5th behind Kandi (57:40) and Kejelcha (57:41).

In 2024, he won the Kenyan Championship and was again seventh in the World Championship.

He had big wins in Prague (58:24) and Copenhagen (58:05), but his most notable performance was a marathon world-leading 2:02:05 in Valencia.

In 2025, all focus was on the marathon, and he set world bests in both London (2:02:27) and Berlin (2:02:16).

He won four marathons in London.

Despite a breakthrough performance, he should go faster on a faster course, but don’t expect the floodgates to open in the second, as Roger Bannister cruised to a couple of sub-fours on the track.

Kejelcha ran 3:47.01 for the indoor mile and 12:38.95 for the 5,000m and 57:30 for the half marathon; the last time, Soi probably could have won, judging by his second half of 59:02.

The only other sub on the horizon is third, and now third all-time, Jacob Kiplimo, who ran a time of 2:00:28, less impressive than his half-marathon world record of 56:42.

There was another world record in London, but rather less well known.

Tigist Assefa looked great in the last 400m, but his 2:15:41 clocking was a little disappointing given his 31:03 opening 10km and 66:12 half time.

The 10km between 30km and 40km was a modest 33:06 and even the last 2195m was nothing special at 7:14 as the fast early pace could have taken its toll.

Her medley best would be 2:11:53 and a world record (albeit questionable) of 2:09:56, the women’s only world race should be much faster than 2:15.

Remember, Paula Radcliffe ran 2:15:25 without super shoes 23 years ago with the help of a man, but she probably wouldn’t have run on her own.

Of course, all finishers could have a stake in the world record, as 59,830 narrowly surpassed New York for the most marathon finishers in history.

Running at half Sawe’s pace, but marveling at the crowd and the excellent organisation, I clocked four hours into my 45th London Marathon (43rd walking), which makes me ‘always present minus one’.

Chris Finnill (3:15:16) took the honors as usual, while Michael Peace (4:51:37), Bill O’Connor (8:39:55) and Geoffrey Aston (8:45:26) also completed their 46th London.

However, Malcolm Spacek had to drop seven miles and David Walker, who was running a virtual marathon, appeared to be out by 30km according to the official results, so it looks like there are only four giveaways left as we look forward to a possible ‘double’ marathon in 2027.