It doesn't come any better than this. The 2026 London Marathon elite women’s list, released on Wednesday, is a dream lineup in the sport, equivalent to the original USA dream team in the 1992 Olympic Games basketball.
Save for the absence of world record holder Ruth Chepngetich, who is serving a three-year ban for failing a doping test, the London field has four of the five fastest women marathon runners of all time, made up of two Kenyans, one Ethiopian, and one Dutch.
No wonder one of the Kenyan protagonists, Peres Chepchirchir, quipped that the world record will be in danger.
Kenya's Peres Jepchirchir (right) competes with Ethiopia's Tigst Assefa during the women's marathon final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on September 14, 2025.
Photo credit: Reuters
Leading the field in the possible dream race that will be held on April 26 in the British capital, is the second fastest woman over the distance, Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia, with a scary personal best of 2:11:53. She is also the defending champion.
Assefa will have, for company, Dutch long distance running talent, Sifan Hassan, who is the third fastest runner over the distance in history with a personal best of 2:13:44.
Kenyans fill up the next two spots of fast runners in the field, in the frame of freshly minted Valencia Marathon champion Joyciline Jepkosgei (personal best 2:14:00) that makes her the fourth fastest women in the world and the 2024 London Marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir (2:14:43), sixth in the world all-time best list.
The fifth fastest woman in the world is former Kenyan Brigid Kosgei, who has shifted her allegiance to Turkiye, and has signed up to run the Tokyo Marathon on March 1.
Talking to Nation Sport on Tuesday, reigning World champion Jepchirchir, said the race might see new times being recorded.
“The field is rich and looking at those whom I will be competing with, they are some of the fastest marathoners in the world and that means the race shall be fast and we might witness another women-only record.
Kenya's Peres Jepchirchir celebrates after winning the women's marathon gold at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on September 14, 2025.
Photo credit: Reuters
“I will be looking forward to a beautiful race,” said Jepchirchir on Thursday.
The hallmarks are there for such a race. The London Marathon has produced a women's world record three times in history. Norway’s Grete Waitz broke the world record when she clocked 2:25:29 in 1983 before her compatriot Ingrid Kristiansen lowered the record to 2:21:06 in 1985.
Paula Radcliffe from the United Kingdom ran 2:15:25 to break the world record (mixed gender) in London in 2003.
Best women’s marathon times
The course has also produced world marathon women-only records through Radcliffe in 2005 (2:17:42), Kenya's Mary Keitany in 2017 (2:17:01), Jepchirchir 2024 (2:16:16) and Assefa 2025 (2:15:50).
Currently, the women-only course record is held by Assefa.
Will Jepchirchir be eyeing a world record? It stands at 2:09:56, set in October 2024 by the now banned Chepngetich. Jepchirchir, let the cat out of the bag without revealing much.
“When I find myself in a rich field like this one, I always want to go for the top position and that means running a calculative race,” said the Kapsabet-based marathoner.
Kenya's Hellen Obiri crosses the line to win the women's elite race at the New York City Marathon on November 2, 2025.
Photo credit: Reuters
Added to this combustible mix is the red-hot, US-based Hellen Obiria, who ran a personal best of 2:17:41 in winning the New York Marathon on November 2, last year, and two-time Abu Dhabi Marathon champion Catherine Reline.
There are also the accomplished Ethiopians Degitu Azimeraw (2:17:58) and Balemelay Shumet (2:21:59) who will fancy their chances of, at the very least, lowering their personal best times.
Obiri, a former star on the track, who began racing marathons in 2022, has progressed well in the American Majors and will be debuting in London, a course that is relatively flat -- what would be considered, fast, in distance running parlance.
Given her form, the twice Word champion will no doubt be looking to close in on the best women’s marathon times.
But the coming together of World marathon champion Jepchirchir and world silver medallist Assefa, makes for interesting reading as well.
The two met at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan in September last year, trading body blows in a two-horse race in the latter stages of the marathon before Jepchirchir dug into her reservoirs for one extra gear in the closing stages to power to victory.
Jepchirchir was coming back from an injury that had forced her to pull out of the London Marathon in April.
Kenya's Joyciline Jepkosgei celebrates after finishing second in the women's elite race at the London Marathon on April 27, 2025.
Photo credit: Reuters
Six weeks later, she lined up for the Valencia Marathon against Jepkosgei. The two looked like the girls to beat, and Jepkosgei was stronger on the day, finishing in a blistering personal best 2:14:00. If any consolation, Jepchirchir finished second in her fastest marathon to date.
Jepchirchir will renew her acquaintance with Obiri. The two last raced against each other at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, with the latter finishing 15th and the former third.
Assefa is a formidable foe for the Kenyans. She bagged the Berlin Marathon twice in 2022 before breaking the women’s world record in 2023 with a time of 2:11:53, which was later obliterated by Chepngetich.
Assefa would follow that up with a women-only world record time of 2:15:50 in the London Marathon last year. Interestingly, she broke the course record of 2:16:16 that had been held by Jepchirchir from 2024 when she won the same race.
Kapsait-based Reline, on the other hand became the first woman to win the Abu Dhabi Marathon back-to-back in 2025 and 2026.
She has, however, switched her allegiance to Turkiye and is waiting for clearances. She could very well line up in London in April as a Turk.
