London Marathon considering major change to elite women’s race in 2027

The London Marathon could allow the elite women’s race in 2027 to unfold with male runners and pacemakers in pursuit of faster times and ultimately a world record.

The overall world record, in mixed races, is held by Ruth Chepng’etich (2:09:56), though controversy surrounds that mark set at the 2024 Chicago Marathon after the Kenyan failed a drugs test five months later and was subsequently banned for three years in 2025.

Tigst Assefa, who holds the women only race world record (2:15:41 from London Marathon 2026), appeared on track to break the overall world record at this year’s Berlin Marathon before rupturing her Achilles tendon in the closing stages and limping home in 2:11:04.

The distressing scenes left London Marathon CEO Hugh Brasher heartbroken for the Ethiopian athlete and now open to a change that could offer women, including Assefa, should she recover in time, a chance to better Chepng’etich’s controversial record in London next year.

“Will London, in the future, have a women’s only record? Yes, I think that’s important,” Brasher, who is pushing for cleaner sport in the World Marathon Majors in light of Peres Jepchirchir’s provisional suspension after a failed test, told the Independent. “However, in the past, we’ve played around with it. Paula, when she ran 2:15, had the women’s only record, so there were men running around her. She probably says they didn’t help her at all.

“We’re prepared to mix it up. We very much talk to the athletes about what their goals are. I think what Tigst [Assefa] did in Berlin, it was a tragedy, in terms of the injury she got, we wish her well. It was incredible, she was going to beat that world record. It’s in touching distance. I’m sorry, but I think that world record is entirely dubious, if you study everything that’s been said, from the AIU, and what they believe, that’s a personal opinion.”

The elite women’s race at London has been run as a women-only race in recent years, which usually poses a tougher challenge, given less depth of runners in and around the elite women’s time.

However, Paula Radcliffe broke the women’s world record in mixed races (2:15:25) in 2003, with Brasher in discussions with the world’s best runners over which style of race they would prefer before an announcement on the elite fields expected in January.

“We talk to the women and what they want to achieve, those conversation are still going on about 2027,” Brasher added. “We’re still signing athletes, and what we will have is some incredible racing, both men and women that are running, when we announce them in January, will have people salivating about racing. They say the London Marathon is harder to win than the Olympics or the World Championships, we delight in the competition and strength of the competition, it’s all part of such an incredible day.

“All things are on the table, all things, so many things we’re going through, we have ideas.”