Jepchirchir, a world record holder, made history at the TCS London Marathon by smashing the women-only world record by 45 seconds. The race, a Platinum Label event in World Athletics, saw Jepchirchir finish in an impressive time of 2:16:16, earning her third victory in a World Marathon Majors race.
The pace was set early on as a lead pack of nine women passed through 10km in 31:26. By the halfway point, the pack had dwindled to seven women with a time of 1:07:04. At around 18 miles into the race, Jepchirchir, Tigist Assefa, Joyciline Jepkosgei and Megertu Alemu separated themselves from the rest of the field and ran together for most of it.
As they neared the finish line, Alemu was dropped from the leading trio leaving Jepchirchir and Jepkosgei to battle it out with only about a minute of running left. Jepchirchir made her move and left her competitors behind with her signature finish crossing the finish line in 2:16:16 breaking the previous women-only world record held by Mary Keitany in 2017 at 2:17:01.
Jepchirchir’s remarkable performance at TCS London Marathon has solidified her status as one of the top female marathon runners globally.
