London Marathon 2022: Preview and schedule

Reigning champions Joyciline Jepkosgei of Kenya and Ethiopia’s Sisay Lemma are hotly tipped to reclaim their titles, but who will they be competing against and how can you watch the event?

Find out everything you need to know about the marathon below.

Who will get the London Marathon underway?

Three members of England’s Euro 2022 championship winning team will get the elite and mass participation events underway from 8.50am on Sunday morning.

Captain Leah Williamson will be joined by the Lionesses' record-goalscorer Ellen White and midfielder Jill Scott as they wave off thousands of runners on the 42.195km (26.2 mile) race around the capital.

Scott will know the route well, having won the U15 Mini London Marathon - the same event four-time Olympic gold medallist Mo Farah won as a junior - in 2001.

It will be the second year the London Marathon is held in October, but in 2023 the event will take place in its traditional spring slot on Sunday 23 April.

Who is in the elite men’s race?

Ethiopian Sisay Lemma is the favourite to defend his 2021 crown and medal for the third consecutive year having finished third in 2020.

The 31-year-old clocked a time of 2:04:01 last time out but will be pushed hard by a packed field of marathon royalty.

Among them will be compatriot Kenenisa Bekele, 40, the second-fastest marathon runner of all-time who set a personal best of 2:01:41 at the Berlin Marathon in 2019 and will be keen to win his first London Marathon having finished second in 2017 and third in 2016.

Bekele, a three-time Olympic gold medallist and five-time world champion, comes to London on the back of finishing third at the Great North Run and Berlin Marathon earlier this year.

Birhanu Legese, 28, another fellow Ethiopian, is the third-fastest marathon runner of all time and a two-time Tokyo Marathon winner who finished fifth at the London Marathon in 2021 and will surely be among the leading pack again.

They will face stiff competition from Somali-born Belgian Abdi Bashir, who clocked 2:03:36 to break a European record at the Rotterdam Marathon in 2021.

The 33-year-old Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist came third at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene earlier this year and will make his debut in London.

There will also be notable absentees.

Eliud Kipchoge smashed his own world record at the Berlin Marathon last Sunday but the Kenyan star will watch events in London as an ambassador.

Britain’s Olympic hero Mo Farah withdrew from the race on Wednesday citing a hip injury. The 39-year-old has yet to win the London Marathon and his late withdrawal raises doubts over his future in competitive racing.

Also missing will be Ethiopians Tamirat Tola, the 22-year-old gold medallist at the 2022 World Championship Marathon in Oregon, and Mosinet Geremew, 30, who claimed silver.

Kenya's Vincent Kipchumba, who finished second at both 2020 and 2021 editions of the London Marathon, also misses out.

Who is in the elite women’s race?

Joyciline Jepkosgei is back in London and hotly tipped to defend the title she won last year.

The 29-year-old Kenyan clocked 2:17:43 in 2021, the seventh fastest marathon of all-time, and is aiming for her third title having also won the New York Marathon in 2019.

Ethiopians Degitu Azimeraw and Ashete Bekere, who finished second and third at the 2021 London Marathon respectively, will once again challenge Jepkosgei for honours. 

They will be put under pressure from Yalemzerf Yehualaw, the 23-year-old 10k road race world record holder whose time of 2:17:23 at the Hamburg Marathon earlier this year broke a national record.

Yehualaw’s staggering run was the fastest for a debutant and the sixth quickest in history.

However Kenya's world record holder and Olympic silver medallist Brigid Kosgei will not take part after withdrawing following a minor hamstring injury.

The 28-year-old has won the London Marathon twice, in 2019 and 2020, and finished fouth last year in a time of 2:16:20.

Also missing will be Britain’s Eilish McColgan, 31, who withdrew after experiencing a medical issue in training after winning the Big Half earlier this month.

Start times (BST)

8:30am – Mini London Marathon

8:50am – Elite wheelchair men and women

9:00am – Elite women’s race

9:40am – Elite men’s race and mass start

Current world records

Men's: 2:01:09, Eliud Kipchoge (Berlin Marathon, 2022)

Women's: 2:14:04, Brigid Kosgei (Chicago Marathon, 2019)