Defending champion Assefa faces Olympic champ Sifan Hassan and world gold medallist Peres Jepchirchir, plus Hellen Obiri, Joyciline Jepkosgei and Julia Paternain.
Tigist Assefa, the defending champion and women-only world report holder, will return to the TCS London Marathon in April the place she is going to face arch-rivals Sifan Hassan and Peres Jepchirchir – the reigning Olympic and World champions.
Since Assefa (ETH) arrived on the key marathon circuit in 2022, she has raced each the TCS London Marathon and BMW Berlin Marathon twice, plus the 2024 Olympic Video games and 2025 World Championships marathons.
Throughout that three-and-a-half yr streak, Assefa has chalked up two wins in Berlin, together with setting a then world report time of two:11:53 in 2023; secured a primary title in London, setting a women-only world report time of two:15:50 within the course of; and has not completed outdoors the highest two in any of the six marathons.
However the defeats have all are available heartbreaking in trend and by the hands of two foes: Hassan and Jepchirchir.
Jepchirchir (KEN) defeated Assefa in a good dash end on the 2024 TCS London Marathon after which, once more, in a good nearer finale on the 2025 World Championships marathon in Tokyo. Hassan, in the meantime, out-kicked Assefa within the closing phases of an epic 2024 Olympic Video games marathon in Paris.
For the primary time since that Olympic Video games marathon, all three athletes will probably be on the identical Begin Line when the 2026 TCS London Marathon lights up the capital on Sunday 26 April, with Assefa trying to avenge the ache of previous defeats.
Assefa stated: “Profitable final yr’s TCS London Marathon and setting a women-only world report was one of many proudest moments of my profession and I need to repeat that once more this yr. To try this I do know I must beat nice champions like Peres and Sifan. They’ve been robust rivals for me and we’ve had some nice battles, I hope that this yr I can come out on prime.”
Hassan and Jepchirchir are each previous London Marathon champions with Hassan successful in 2023 and Jepchirchir in 2024. Hassan gained the 2024 Olympic Video games marathon title in dramatic trend (after already successful two medals on the monitor on the identical Video games) and has additionally triumphed at an additional two Abbott World Marathon majors: the Financial institution of America Chicago Marathon in 2023 and Sydney Marathon in 2025.
Jepchirchir is now the world champion at each the marathon and half-marathon world distances, with the marathon title she gained in Tokyo including to the half-marathon title she gained in Riga in 2023. She has additionally gained the Boston Marathon (2022), TCS New York Metropolis Marathon (2021) and was the Olympic marathon champion at Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021).
Becoming a member of the main trio are two Kenyans who will arrive in London in red-hot type: Joyciline Jepkosgei and Hellen Obiri.
Jepkosgei, the 2021 TCS London Marathon champion, ran the fourth-fastest time in historical past to win the 2025 Valencia Marathon in 2:14:00, after an exhilarating duel with Jepchirchir.
Obiri, who’s making her TCS London Marathon debut, has two TCS New York Metropolis Marathon titles (2023 and 2025) and two Boston Marathon victories to her title (2023 and 2024) since shifting as much as the marathon distance.
The Kenyan’s most up-to-date New York Metropolis Marathon win, final November, noticed her take practically three minutes off the course report, ending in 2:19:51. Obiri completed third within the Paris Olympic Video games marathon, behind Hassan and Assefa, and has two World Championships 5000m titles to her title on the monitor.
Uruguay’s Julia Paternain will make sure that the complete complement of medallists from final yr’s World Championships will probably be on the beginning line in London.
It is going to be a homecoming of kinds for Paternain who was introduced up within the UK and a member of Cambridge & Coleridge AC. She efficiently competed in each the Mini London Marathon and the Vitality Westminster Mile on the identical roads as the long-lasting closing phases of the TCS London Marathon.
She completed second within the under-17 girls’s race on the 2017 Mini London Marathon and gained the Vitality Westminster Mile in the identical age class later the identical yr.
READ MORE: Julia Paternain interview
Paternain made worldwide headlines ultimately yr’s World Championships when she crossed the end line within the Tokyo Olympic Stadium unaware that she had gained a bronze medal – the primary medal of any type gained by Uruguay.
These worldwide stars add to the robust home discipline introduced earlier this week, which incorporates Eilish McColgan, Jess Warner-Judd and Abbie Donnelly.
Hugh Brasher, CEO of London Marathon Occasions, stated: “For the previous two years, the women-only world report has been damaged on the TCS London Marathon and with the calibre of athletes we’ve coming to London this April, it might be no shock if the report of two:15:50 set by Tigst Assefa final yr is damaged as soon as once more.
“With the complete set of medallists from the Paris Olympic Video games – Sifan Hassan, Assefa and Hellen Obiri – the reigning world champion, Peres Jepchirchir, and Joyciline Jepkosgei, who was the quickest lady on the planet over the marathon distance final yr, it guarantees to be a spectacular race.”
The elite girls’s discipline line-up is the penultimate announcement of 2026 TCS London Marathon elite week with the elite males line-up being revealed tomorrow (Thursday January 29).
2026 TCS London Marathon elite girls entry listing
Tigst Assefa (ETH, PB 2:11:53)
Sifan Hassan (NED, 2:13:44)
Joyciline Jepkosgei (KEN, 2:14:00)
Peres Jepchirchir (KEN, 2:14:43)
Megertu Alemu (ETH, 2:16:34)
Hellen Obiri (KEN, 2:17:41)
Degitu Azimeraw (ETH, 2:17:58)
Catherine Relin Amanang’ole (KEN, 2:20:34)
Charlotte Purdue (GBR, 2:22:17)
Laura Luengo (ESP, 2:22:31)
Rose Harvey (GBR, 2:23:21)
Abbie Donnelly (GBR, 2:24:11)
Florencia Borelli (ARG, 2:24:18)
Eilish McColgan (GBR, 2:24:25)
Jessica Warner-Judd (GBR, 2:24:45)
Fadouwa Ledhem (FRA, 2:25:50)
Marta Galimany (ESP, 2:26:14)
Lucy Reid (GBR, 2:26:35)
Julia Paternain (URU, 2:27:09)
Louise Small (GBR, 2:27:48)
Alice Wright (GBR, 2:28:48)
Verity Hopkins (GBR, 2:31:19)
