The London Marathon, one of the seven World Marathon Majors, has been contested by men and women annually since 29 March 1981. Set over a largely flat course around the River Thames, the marathon is in length and generally regarded as a competitive and unpredictable event, and conducive to fast times.

The inaugural marathon had 7,741 entrants, 6,255 of whom completed the race. The first Men's Elite Race was tied between American Dick Beardsley and Norwegian Inge Simonsen, who crossed the finish line holding hands in 2 hours, 11 minutes, 48 seconds. The first Women's Elite Race was won by Briton Joyce Smith in 2:29:57. In 1983, the first wheelchair races took place. Organized by the British Sports Association for the Disabled (BASD), 19 people competed and 17 finished. Gordon Perry of the United Kingdom won the Men's Wheelchair Race, coming in at 3:20:07, and Denise Smith, also of the UK, won the Women's Wheelchair Race in 4:29:03.

Twenty athletes representing the United Kingdom have won the London Marathon a total of forty times. The most recent win by a British athlete was in the 2018 London Marathon, by David Weir in the Men's Wheelchair Race. It was his eighth win in London. Kenya has the second largest number of winning athletes. Seven Kenyan men and seven Kenyan women have been victorious a total of eighteen times, all in the able-bodied category. Eleven men, including those from the wheelchair races, have won the marathon more than once, Weir's six wins being the record. Sixteen women have been winners more than once; Tanni Grey-Thompson won the women's wheelchair race six times between 1992 and 2002.

Course records for the London Marathon have been set ten times in the men's race, seven times in the women's race, sixteen times in the men's wheelchair race, and seventeen times in the women's wheelchair race. World records for marathon running have been set six times considering marks for men and women in mixed sex and women-only races. Khalid Khannouchi, representing the United States, set the men's world record in 2:05:38 in 2002. The following year, British runner Paula Radcliffe set the women's world record in 2:15:25, which also stands as the current course record in the Women's Elite Race. In 2017 Kenyan Mary Keitany ran a women-only race world record of 2:17:01. Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya set the course record at 2:02:37 in 2019 in the Men's Elite Race. Marcel Hug of Switzerland set the Men's Wheelchair Race course record at 1:26:27 in 2021. The course record for the Women's Wheelchair Race was set by Swiss athlete Manuela Schär in 2021, with 1:39:52.

Elite race – men's winners Year Athlete Nationality Time(h:m:s) Notes 1981 (Tie) 2:11:48 Course record (Tie) 1982 2:09:24 1983 2:09:43 1984 2:09:57 1985 2:08:16 Course record 1986 2:10:02 1987 2:09:50 1988 2:10:20 1989 2:09:03 1990 2:10:10 1991 2:09:17 1992 2:10:02 1993 2:10:50 1994 (3) 2:08:53 1995 2:08:30 1996 2:10:00 1997 António Pinto (2) 2:07:55 Course record 1998 2:07:57 1999 2:07:57 2000 António Pinto (3) 2:06:36 Course record 2001 Abdelkader El Mouaziz (2) 2:07:09 2002 2:05:38 World marathon record 2003 2:07:56 2004 2:06:18 2005 2:07:35 2006 2:06:39 2007 Martin Lel (3) 2:07:41 20082:05:15 Course record 2009 2:05:10 2010 2:05:19 2011 2:04:40 Course record 2012 2:04:44 2013 Tsegaye Kebede (2) 2:06:04 2014 Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich (2) 2:04:29 Course record 2015 Eliud Kipchoge (2) 2:04:42 2016 2:03:05 Course record 2017 2:05:48 2018 Eliud Kipchoge (4) 2:04:17 2019 2:02:37 Course record 2020 2:05:58 2021 2:04:01 2022 2:04:39 2023 Kelvin Kiptum 2:01:25 Course record 2024 Alexander Mutiso 2:04:01 2025 Sabastian Sawe (2) 2:02:27 2026 Course record and men's world record

Elite race – women's winners Year Athlete Nationality Time(h:m:s) Notes 1981 Joyce Smith (2) 2:29:57 Course record 1982 2:29:43 1983 Grete Waitz 2:25:29 World marathon record 1984 Ingrid Kristiansen (2) 2:24:26 Course record 1985 2:21:06 World marathon record 1986 Grete Waitz (2) 2:24:54 1987 Ingrid Kristiansen (4) 2:22:48 1988 2:25:41 1989 Véronique Marot 2:25:56 1990 Wanda Panfil 2:26:31 1991 Rosa Mota 2:26:14 1992 Katrin Dörre-Heinig (3) 2:29:39 1993 2:27:09 1994 2:32:34 1995 Małgorzata Sobańska 2:27:43 1996 Liz McColgan 2:27:54 1997 Joyce Chepchumba 2:26:51 1998 Catherina McKiernan 2:26:26 1999 Joyce Chepchumba (2) 2:23:22 2000 Tegla Loroupe 2:24:33 2001 Derartu Tulu 2:23:57 2002 Paula Radcliffe (2) 2:18:56 Course record 2003 World marathon record (mixed) 2004 Margaret Okayo 2:22:35 2005 Paula Radcliffe (3) 2:17:42 World marathon record (women-only) 2006 Deena Kastor 2:19:35 2007 Zhou Chunxiu 2:20:38 2008 Irina Mikitenko (2) 2:24:14 2009 2:22:11 2010 2:22:38 Initially third but Liliya Shobukhova and Inga Abitova both disqualified retrospectively 2011 Mary Jepkosgei Keitany (2) 2:19:19 2012 2:18:37 2013 Priscah Jeptoo 2:20:15 2014 Edna Kiplagat 2:20:21 2015 Tigist Tufa 2:23:21 2016 Jemima Sumgong 2:22:58 2017 Mary Jepkosgei Keitany (3) 2:17:01 World marathon record (women-only) 2018 Vivian Cheruiyot 2:18:31 2019 Brigid Kosgei (2) 2:18:20 2020 2:18:58 2021 Joyciline Jepkosgei 2:17:43 2022 Yalemzerf Yehualaw 2:17:26 2023 Sifan Hassan 2:18:33 2024 Peres Jepchirchir 2:16:16 2025 Tigst Assefa (2) 2:15:50 World marathon record (women-only) 2026 2:15:41

Wheelchair race – men's winners Year Athlete Nationality Time(h:m:s) Notes 1983 3:20:07 Course record 1984 2:38:40 Course record 1985 2:19:53 Course record 1986 2:26:38 1987 2:08:34 Course record; second victory 1988 2:01:37 Course record 1989 1:59:31 Course record 1990 1:57:12 Course record 1991 1:52:52 Course record 1992 1:51:42 Course record 1993 1:44:10 Course record 1994 1:46:06 Second victory 1995 1:39:14 Course record 1996 1:43:48 Third victory 1997 1:42:15 Fourth victory 1998 1:35:18 Course record; second victory 1999 1:35:27 Third victory 2000 1:41:50 2001 1:42:37 2002 1:39:44 2003 1:32:02 Course record 2004 1:36:56 2005 1:35:51 Second victory 2006 1:29:48 Course record; second victory 2007 1:30:51 Third victory 2008 1:33:56 Fourth victory 2009 1:28:57 Course record 2010 1:35:21 2011 1:30:05 Fifth victory 2012 1:32:26 Sixth victory 2013 1:31:29 Second victory 2014 1:32:41 2015 1:31:31 2016 1:35:19 Second victory 2017 1:31:06 Seventh victory 2018 1:31:15 Eighth victory 2019 1:33:37 2020 1:36:04 2021 1:26:27 Course record; third victory2022 1:24:38 Course record; fourth victory2023 1:23:44 Course record; fifth victory 2024 1:28:35 Sixth victory 2025 1:25:25 Seventh victory20261:24:13Eighth victory

Wheelchair race – women's winners Year Athlete Nationality Time(h:m:s) Notes 1983 4:29:03 Course record 1984 3:10:04 Course record 1985 2:47:12 Course record; second victory 1986 3:02:40 Third victory 1987 2:45:30 Course record 1988 2:41:45 Course record, second victory 1989 3:03:54 1990 2:10:25 Course record 1991 2:04:40 Course record; second victory 1992 2:17:23 1993 2:03:05 Course record 1994 2:08:26 Second victory 1995 2:17:02 Second victory 1996 2:00:10 Course record; third victory 1997 1:49:09 Course record 1998 2:02:01 Fourth victory 1999 1:57:38 Second victory 2000 2:23:30 2001 2:13:55 Fifth victory 2002 2:22:51 Sixth victory 2003 2:04:21 2004 2:04:58 Second victory 2005 1:57:00 Third victory 2006 1:59:57 Fourth victory 2007 1:50:40 2008 1:48:04 Course record 2009 1:50:39 2010 1:52:33 2011 1:46:31 Course record; second victory 2012 1:49:10 Second victory 2013 1:46:02 Course record 2014 1:45:12 Course record; second victory 2015 1:41:14 Course record; third victory 2016 1:44:14 Fourth victory 2017 1:39:57 Course record 2018 1:42:58 2019 1:44:09 Second victory 2020 1:40:07 2021 1:39:52 Course record; third victory 2022 1:38:24Course record 2023 1:38:51 Second victory 2024 1:38:54 Second victory 2025 1:34:18 Third victory20261:38:29Fourth victory

Victories by nationality Country Men'srace Women'srace Men'swheelchair Women'sWheelchair Total 6 7 16 15 44 19 14 0 0 33 0 0 12 7 19 2 1 2 6 11 5 6 0 0 11 1 6 0 0 7 0 1 2 3 6 0 5 0 0 5 3 0 2 0 5 0 0 2 2 4 0 0 4 0 4 0 0 0 4 4 3 1 0 0 4 1 0 0 2 3 0 0 3 0 3 2 0 0 1 3 0 0 1 2 3 0 1 0 1 2 2 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1

References General

Specific

External links Virgin London Marathon Official London Marathon website London Marathon World Marathon Majors website BBC London minisite