London Marathon women’s preview: The battle of past champions

Sunday's London Marathon is full of Kenyan and Ethiopian talent on the women's side including the defending champion and a world record holder.

London Marathon women

The elite women's field meet the press! #LondonMarathon #behindthescenes #oneinamillion

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The running community is in for a treat for the second consecutive week as the London Marathon is Sunday, April 24, just six days after the 120th Boston Marathon. The London Marathon is a world marathon major and regularly attracts some of the world’s best runners.

The stakes for this Sunday’s race are higher than usual as Ethiopia and Kenya have yet to finalize who will be representing the African nations at the Rio Olympics in August. Sunday’s results are likely to effect the decisions for the Olympic team.

The women’s course record of 2:15:25 is also the marathon world record, held by Paula Radcliffe, which she ran in 2003.

Start times (April 24)

Women’s elite: 9:15 a.m. local time (4:15 a.m. EDT).
Men’s elite: 10 a.m. local time (5 a.m. EDT).

There were more than 38,000 participants at last year’s London Marathon, the largest turnout in the event’s history.

Who to watch for plus “did you know?”

Tigist Tufa: The defending London Marathon champion. Did you know that Tufa holds the course record (2:24:32) at the Ottawa Marathon, a race she won in 2014?
Mary Keitany: Two-time London Marathon winner and former world record holder in the half-marathon. Did you know that Keitany is a mother of two?
Aselefech Mergia: London Marathon winner in 2010. Did you know that Mergia initially finished third at the 2010 London Marathon but was later upgraded to gold since the top two were caught doping?
Florence Kiplagat: World record holder in the half-marathon. Did you know that Kiplagat is married to Kenyan Olympian Moses Mosop?
Mare Dibaba: Reigning world marathon champion. Did you know that Dibaba briefly represented Azerbaijan internationally before reverting citizenship to Ethiopia?

In addition to the five listed athletes are Priscah Jeptoo and Feyse Tadese. The full start list can be found here. There are no Canadian women listed in the elite section of the London Marathon.

READ OUR MEN’S RACE PREVIEW HERE.

Also in Sunday’s elite field is American Sara Hall. She’s the wife of American Olympian Ryan Hall, who is expected to compete at this summer’s Asics Beat the Sun race.

All star elite women's line-up! But who's going to win on Sunday? Cast your votes. #LondonMarathon #behindthescenes #oneinamillion

A photo posted by Virgin Money London Marathon (@londonmarathon) on

Astronaut Tim Peake will also be running the London Marathon on Sunday, but not on location. Peake will be running 42.2K from space. See the full story here.

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