Defending champion Assefa faces Olympic champion Sifan Hassan and world gold medalist Perez Jepchirchir, as well as Helen Obiri, Joycelyn Jepkosgei and Julia Paternein.
Tigist Assefa, the reigning champion and women-only world record holder, will return to the TCS London Marathon in April, where she will face arch-rivals Sifan Hassan and Peres Jepchirchir, the reigning Olympic and world champions.
Since Assefa (ETH) arrived on the main marathon circuit in 2022, he has competed twice in both the TCS London Marathon and the BMW Berlin Marathon, plus the 2024 Olympics and 2025 World Championships marathons.
During that three-and-a-half-year streak, Assefa won twice in Berlin, including setting a then-world record of 2:11:53 in 2023; Secured first title in London, setting a women’s only world record time of 2:15:50. and has not finished in the top two in any of the six marathons.
But the defeats have all been heartbreaking in fashion and at the hands of two enemies, Hasan and Jepchirchir.
Jepchirchir (KEN) defeated Assefah in a tight sprint finish at the 2024 TCS London Marathon and then again in a closer finish at the 2025 World Championships Marathon in Tokyo. Meanwhile, Hasan edged out Asefa in the closing stages of the epic 2024 Olympic marathon in Paris.
For the first time since that Olympic marathon, all three athletes will be on the same Start Line when the 2026 TCS London Marathon lights up the capital on Sunday, April 26, and Assefa will be looking to avenge the pain of past defeats.
“Winning last year’s TCS London Marathon and setting the women’s only world record was one of the proudest moments of my career and I want to do it again this year. To do that I know I have to beat great champions like Perez and Sifan. They’ve been tough opponents for me and we’ve had some great battles, I can hopefully win this year.”
Hassan and Jepchirshire are both former London Marathon champions, with Hassan winning in 2023 and Jepchirshire in 2024. Hasan won the 2024 Olympic marathon title in dramatic fashion (after already winning two medals on the run at the same Games) and has also won two more, the Abbott World Bank Marathon2 and the Chi World Marathon30. Sydney Marathon 2025
Jepchircir is now the world champion in both the marathon and half-marathon world distances, and the marathon title he won in Tokyo adds to the half-marathon title he won in Riga in 2023. He also won the Boston Marathon (2022), the TCS New York City Marathon (2021) and was the Olympic champion in the 2020 Marathon (Marathon 2020). 2021).
Joining the top three are two Kenyans who will arrive in London red-hot, Joycelyn Jepkosgei and Helen Obiri.
Jepkosgei, the 2021 TCS London Marathon champion, ran the fourth fastest time in history to win the 2025 Valencia Marathon in 2:14:00 after a thrilling battle with Jepchirchir.
Obiri, who is making his TCS London Marathon debut, has two TCS New York Marathon titles (2023 and 2025) and two Boston Marathon wins (2023 and 2024) to his name as he moved up the marathon distance.
Kenya’s most recent victory at the New York City Marathon last November saw her shave nearly three minutes off the course record, finishing in 2:19:51. Obiri finished third in the marathon at the Paris Olympics behind Hassan and Assefa, and has two world championship 5,000m titles on the track.
Uruguay Julia Paternain will ensure that the full line-up of last year’s World Championship medalists will be on the starting line in London.
It will be a homecoming of sorts for Paternain, who grew up in the UK and is a member of Cambridge & Coleridge AC. He successfully ran both the Mini London Marathon and the Vitality Westminster Mile on the same roads as the iconic closing stages of the TCS London Marathon.
She finished second in the women’s under-17 race at the 2017 Mini London Marathon and won the Vitality Westminster Mile later that year in the same age category.
READ MORE. Julia Paterna interview
Paternain made global headlines at last year’s world championships when she crossed the finish line at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium, unaware that she had won a bronze medal, the first ever for Uruguay.
These international stars add to the strong domestic field announced earlier this week, which includes Eilish McColgan, Jess Warner-Judd and Abbie Donnelly.
London Marathon Events CEO Hugh Brasher said: “For the last two years, only the women’s world record has been broken at the TCS London Marathon, and with the caliber of athletes we have coming to London this April, it wouldn’t be surprising if Tigst Assefa’s record of 2:15:50, set last year, is broken again.
“With a full line-up of medal winners from the Paris Olympics, Sifan Hassan, Asefa and Helen Obiri, reigning world champion Perez Jepchirshir and Joycelyn Jepkosgei, who was the fastest woman in the world over the marathon distance last year, it promises to be an impressive race.”
The elite women’s field line-up is the penultimate announcement of the 2026 TCS London Marathon elite week, with the elite men’s line-up announced tomorrow (Thursday 29 January).
2026 TCS London Marathon Elite Women Entry List
- Tigst Assefa (ETH, PB 2:11:53)
- Sifan Hassan (NED, 2:13:44)
- Yeast Jescarels (KKN, 2:14:00:00:00)
- Peres Jepchirchir (KEN, 2:14:43)
- Megertu Alemu (ETH, 2:16:34)
- Helen Obiri (KEN, 2:17:41)
- Degitu Azimerav (ETH, 2:17:58)
- Catherine Relyn Amanangole (KEN, 2:20:34)
- Charlotte Purdue (GBR, 2:22:17)
- Laura Luengo (ESP, 2:22:31)
- Rose Harvey (GBR, 2:23:21)
- Abby Donnelly (GBR, 2:24:11)
- Florence Borelli (ARG, 2:24:18)
- Eilish McColgan (GBR, 2:24:25)
- Jessica Warner-Judd (GBR, 2:24:45)
- Faduwa Ledem (FRA, 2:25:50)
- Marta Gallimani (ESP, 2:26:14)
- Lucy Reid (GBR, 2:26:35)
- Julia Paternain (URU, 2:27:09)
- Louise Small (GBR, 2:27:48)
- Alice Wright (GBR, 2:28:48)
- Verity Hopkins (GBR, 2:31:19)
