Peres Jepchirchir
Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya is a two-time World Athletics Half Marathon Champion, women’s-only half-marathon world record holder (1:05:16) and is the Tokyo Olympic champion. On Sunday, she won the 2024 London Marathon in the time of 2:16:16 and in the process, outkicked Ethiopian Tigst Assefa. Assefa is the marathon world record holder. She broke Brigid Kosgei‘s world record by clocking a jaw-dropping 2:11:53 in Berlin last year.
Olympic Champion ✅
— TCS London Marathon (@LondonMarathon) April 21, 2024
London Marathon Champion ✅
Amazing run from Peres Jepchirchir!#LondonMarathon pic.twitter.com/TgjLWRwAFv
Jepchirchir outkicked Assefa to drop her by seven seconds, 2:16:16 to 2:16:23. With the win, Jepchirchir now owns the women’s-only world record in the marathon.
London had nine starters with a best of sub-2:18.
Jepchirchir looks ready to defend her Olympic title in Paris this summer.
Kenenisa Bekele
Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia broke his own masters (40-plus) world record in London clocking a 2:04:15 performance. He finished just 14 seconds off the win by Alexander Mutiso of Kenya. Bekele had led for long stretches and the 41-year-old took the overall win seriously.
Kenenisa Bekele.
— Abbott WMMajors (@WMMajors) April 21, 2024
41 years old.
2:04:15.
Masters WR.
That is all.#AbbottWMM #LondonMarathon pic.twitter.com/DMAYt5ed1r
Bekele’s best is 2:01:41 from the 2019 Berlin Marathon. At the time, it was just two seconds off of Eliud Kipchoge’s world record set in Berlin in 2018. Since then, Kipchoge has improved the record to 2:01:09 and the late Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya took it down to 2:00:35 in Chicago last year. Bekele’s Berlin performance was arguably better than Kipchoge’s (2:01:39) as the weather was less cooperative. But for those who are newer to the sport of athletics, that’s not all folks. The legend continues (with this masters world record).
Bekele earned 11 World Cross Country Championship gold medals, often winning both the short and long courses. He is a three-time Olympic gold medallist, and five-time World Athletics Championships gold medallist. He held the 5000m and 10,000m world records. Bekele ran 12:37.35 and 26:17.53 in 2004 and 2005, respectively. Both performances continue to be national records. Only Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda has run faster with his 2020 performances of 12:35.36 and 26:11.00.
