Susanna Sullivan was the top American in the field. She ran 2:29:30 to finish in 10th place 2025 London Marathon in 2:15:50, breaking away from Kenyan Joyciline Jepkosgei just after the 2-hour mark of the race. Jepkosgei held on to take second place in 2:18:44, and Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands finished in 2:19:00 for third.
Assefa’s winning time set a new women’s-only world record, breaking Peres Jepchirchir’s mark of 2:16:16 from last year. At the London Marathon, the elite women start in a group by themselves and don’t have the aid of male pacemakers.
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Assefa, the former world record holder in the marathon, used a 5:03 24th mile to separate herself from Jepkosgei to win her third World Marathon Major. Assefa, 28, previously won the 2022 and 2023 Berlin Marathons—the latter of which she set the world record of 2:11:53, which has since been broken by Ruth Chepngetich (2:09:56) world record of 2:11:53.
Sunday’s race was a rematch of the 2024 Olympic Marathon, world record of 2:11:53.
From the opening miles, a group of four— Assefa, Jepkosgei, Hassan, and Megertu Alemu—formed, led by two pacemakers. The pace started hot; well under Paula Radcliffe’s mixed-gender course record time of 2:15:25 from 2003.
Hassan, in what has become her signature style, yo-yo’d off the lead pack throughout the first half of the race. At 15K (9.3 miles), the top group was on 2:12-high pace, but soon after, Alemu dropped off and could not reconnect. Hassan fell back around 10 minutes later and lost contact for the final time.
At the half marathon split, Assefa and Jepkosgei came through in 1:06:40, while Hassan was 10 seconds back in 1:06:50. The final pacer stepped off around the 25K mark (15.5 miles) and from there, Assefa and Jepkosgei pushed side by side to hold off a fading Hassan.
From the 35K to 40K mark, Assefa put an impressive 56 seconds on Jepkosgei to take the lead, and she cruised across the finish line with a 2:54 margin of victory.
2025 London Marathon women’s top 10
- Tigst Assefa (ETH), 2:15:50
- Joyciline Jepkosgei (KEN), 2:18:44
- Sifan Hassan (NED), 2:19:00
- Haven Hailu Desse (ETH), 2:19:17
- Vivian Cheruiyot (KEN), 2:22:32
- Stella Chesang (UGA), 2:22:42
- Sofiia Yaremchuk (ITA), 2:23:14
- Eilish McColgan (GBR), 2:24:25
- Rose Harvey (GBR), 2:25:01
- Susanna Sullivan (USA), 2:29:30
Shoes & Gear Runner’s World. He’s a former all-conference collegiate runner at Winthrop University, and he received his master’s degree in liberal arts studies from Wake Forest University, where he was a member of one of the top distance-running teams in the NCAA. Kahler has reported on the ground at major events such as the Paris Olympics, U.S. Olympic Trials, New York City Marathon, and Boston Marathon. He’s run 14:20 in the 5K, 1:05:36 in the half marathon, and enjoys spotting tracks from the sky on airplanes. (Look for colorful ovals around football fields.)
