Assefa made up for second-place finishes in London and the Paris Olympics last year by pulling away near the end to finish in 2 hours, 15 minutes, and 50 seconds.

Ethiopian Tigst Assefa won the London Marathon in a world record for a women's only race, while Kenyan Sabastian Sawe took the men's title to further his argument as the world's top male marathoner. Assefa clocked an unofficial 2 hours,

She said the warmer temperatures (near 68 degrees by race end) helped her improve over last year’s performance. "Last year, I did have some problems with the cold," said Assefa, who was second in 2024.