Defending champion Tigst Assefa will return to the TCS London Marathon on April 26, 2026, to face Olympic gold medallist Sifan Hassan, world champion Peres Jepchirchir and Hellen Obiri in a star-studded women's elite field. The lineup includes all podium finishers from the 2025 London Marathon, 2024 Olympics and 2025 World Championships, promising a potential record-breaking race. Assefa aims to repeat her women-only world record performance from last year.
The announcement of the elite women's field for the 2026 TCS London Marathon, made on January 28, 2026, highlights one of the deepest competitions in the event's history. Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia, who set the women-only world record of 2:15:50 while winning in 2025, returns to defend her title. She has been unbeaten in the marathon distance except for narrow defeats to Hassan at the 2024 Paris Olympics and to Jepchirchir at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo and the 2024 London Marathon.
The field reunites the medalists from recent major championships: Assefa (Olympic silver), Hassan (Olympic gold, Netherlands), Obiri (Olympic bronze, Kenya) and Jepchirchir (world gold, Kenya). Also competing are 2021 London winner Joyciline Jepkosgei (Kenya), who recently ran a world-leading 2:14:00 in Valencia, and Uruguay's Julia Paternain, who claimed world bronze in 2025—her country's first athletics medal.
Hassan won the 2023 London Marathon on debut and added Olympic gold the following year, while Jepchirchir's victories include the 2021 Olympics, 2021 New York and 2022 Boston marathons. Obiri, a two-time Boston and New York winner, makes her London debut after setting a New York course record of 2:22:31 in 2025.
"Winning last year’s TCS London Marathon and setting a women-only world record was one of the proudest moments of my career and I want to repeat that again this year," Assefa said. "To do that, I know I will have to beat great champions like Peres and Sifan. They have been tough competitors for me and we have had some great battles, I hope that this year I can come out on top."
Hugh Brasher, CEO of London Marathon Events, noted the field's strength: "With the full set of medallists from the Paris Olympic Games – Sifan Hassan, Assefa and Hellen Obiri – the reigning world champion, Peres Jepchirchir, and Joyciline Jepkosgei... it promises to be a spectacular race." British entrants include Eilish McColgan, who set a European 10km record in January 2026, along with Jess Warner-Judd and Abbie Donnelly.
Four of the six fastest women marathoners in history—Assefa (2:11:53 PB), Hassan (2:13:44), Jepkosgei (2:14:00) and Jepchirchir (2:14:43)—will compete, raising expectations for a challenge to the course record of 2:15:25, set by Paula Radcliffe in 2003. The men's elite field is set for announcement on January 29.