On April 21, 2024,The Shanghai Half Marathon—the last major domestic half marathon of the first half of the year—started this morning.
At 16:00 in the afternoon, one of the six World Marathon Majors, the London Marathon, kicked off. Considering elite athletes' preparation cycles, this race is arguably the most significant event before the Paris Olympics.
This article is a race bulletin.
For race highlights, our April 18 headlinePreview | With the London Marathon approaching, is the world record coming again? already lists the detailed points in the preview; you can click the link to read more.
The main men's and women's storylines are briefly summarized as follows:
1. In the women's field, three of the all-time top four are in attendance — can this produce a new women-only world record?
2. With legend Kenenisa Bekele back in London and facing a group of young contenders — including the world championships champion and a debut marathon dark horse in the 2:03/2:05 range — how did the race ultimately play out?
At exactly 16:00 Beijing time the gun went and the women's elites were off first; The lead group averaged 3:08/km over the first 5 km, nine athletes remained in the pack, and they clearly seemed to be targeting the women-only world record.
The women's projected finishing time was at one point in the 2:12 range; the women's lead group reached the half in 1:07:04, Tigist Assefa was almost running right on the pacers at the front, and as the world record holder this was her first appearance at a major race in the first half of the year.
On the men's side, the lead group held a 2:55 pace, with Bekele running in the middle of the pack. From the live footage he looked in good shape today, the men's lead group hit the half in 1:01:29, projecting a finish of 2:03:00 even.
Around 1 hour 40 minutes, the women's lead group had already shown a clear split down to four runners, and Yehualaw had dropped off by then.
The women's race remained undecided until the final few hundred meters, when Tokyo Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir unleashed a kick out of the penultimate turn, accelerating away from all her rivals to win the 2024 London Marathon women's title in 2:16:16 — a new women-only world record! Assefa faded in the final sprint to take second.
On the men's side, the biggest surprise today came from Bekele, who injected pace in the later stages and split the lead group. He and Munio became the only two race leaders — a scene many runners have been eager to see.
But in the end youth prevailed — before 40 km Munio dropped Bekele and went off alone, and this holder of the fourth-fastest half marathon in history won the 2024 London Marathon men's title in 2:04:01.
Veteran Bekele finished second in 2:04:15.
