London Marathon 2024: elite races and more – live | London Marathon

In the men’s race, Hug and Romanchuk were tied for the lead by the time they reached the 14km mark.

They are actually chatting to each other while doing turns. Do you encourage each other? A little trash talk? who knows?

Catherine DeBruner outlasted Manuela Schar and overtook some of the backmarkers in the men’s wheelchair race.

This will be DeBrunner’s first appearance in the majors this season. She set her new course records at the 2022 Berlin Marathon and 2023 Chicago Marathon, breaking Schar’s winning streak of five times.

Elite female racers line up at the starting line. Temperatures seem to have cooled down a bit in London and everyone seems to be trying to keep their hands and arms warm.

A large crowd cheers them on as the announcer introduces what many believe to be the greatest field ever assembled at the London Marathon. And they are off!

With just over 11 minutes to go in the elite wheelchair race, American Daniel Romanchuk is in the lead. Hagg and Weir are just behind him in second and third respectively.

Romanchuk was the first American to win the men’s wheelchair division at the New York City Marathon in 2018, and he also won in London in 2019.

The London Marathon became the first marathon in the world to equalize prize money for wheelchair athletes with other elite races, making the wheelchair race a significant victory in disability sport.

So every winner of today’s elite race will receive £44,000, second place £24,000 and third place £18,000.

The wheelchair athletes head to the starting line and take off for the first elite race of the day.

Russell ‘The Hardest Geezer’ Cooke was just interviewed on the BBC’s pre-race broadcast. Cook covered 9,941 miles from one end of Africa to the other in less than a year, averaging more than 45 miles a day.

He started running on April 22, 2023 in the southernmost tip of South Africa. Mr Cook raised more than his £650,000 for his charities during his 352 days campaigning.

“All I can say about the milestone in Africa is genocide from start to finish,” Cook said. “I think today I’m going to find out how badly damaged my body is. This is my first long run since returning to England.”

Cook also revealed that he has 93 hours of music that he has loaned out during his incredible journey. When asked what song he never wanted to hear again, he replied: It’s a good song, but if you listen to it too many times…” That’s true enough.

The first elite race of the day will see British wheelchair racing legend David Weir compete in his 25th consecutive London Marathon this year.

With eight wins, Weir is the most decorated athlete in the history of the event. He will race in a new chair with a new personal best, which could give him the boost he needs on his way to a ninth victory in London.

“It’s made by Sauber (they have an F1 team called Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber) so it’s basically an F1 chair. It feels great when you push it,” Weir said.

Weir will face Marcel Hug, the undisputed No. 1 wheelchair racer. The Swiss native last year became the first runner to win all six Abbott World Marathon majors (Tokyo, Boston, Berlin, Chicago, New York and London) in one season, and will aim for a fourth consecutive victory in London. become.

London Marathon race director Hugh Brasher believes the women’s race could be tougher than the Olympics.

“No race in the history of our sport has ever experienced something like that,” Brasher said. “I don’t know who will win, but it’s going to be an incredibly competitive event. This is going to be a harder marathon to win than the Paris Olympic marathon, I’m pretty sure of that.” .

Sean Ingle and others.

So about that record. Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa aims to further reduce the women’s marathon world record to under 2 hours and 10 minutes, but admits her only goal today is to win.

Assefa clocked 2:11:53 in Berlin last September, beating Brigid Kosgei’s 2:14:04 time in 2019.

But when asked if he was chasing a fast time in London, Assefa was more cautious. “My goal is to win,” she replied. She doubts Asefa will be running at full throttle today, given that Asefa will also be running the Paris Olympics marathon in four months and she is still the overwhelming favorite to win. Seem.

Assefa will face the previous record holder Kosgei, colleague Ruth Chepgetich, Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir and 2022 London Marathon winner Jaremselv Yewarau.

In the men’s race, Tamirat Tora won the New York City Marathon in November and will hope to match that effort. He finished third in this race last year. His competitors include Mosinet Geremyu, who ran the 2019 London Marathon with the third-fastest time ever, and Kenenisa Bekele, whose endless accolades include three Olympic gold medals.

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