Jepchirchir, a world champion in marathon running, made history by breaking the women-only world record at the TCS London Marathon. The race, a Platinum Label event on the World Athletics calendar, saw Jepchirchir finish in an impressive 2:16:16, her third victory in a World Marathon Majors race.
The pace was set early on as a pack of nine women passed through 10km in just 31:26. By the halfway point, the pack had dwindled to seven women with a time of 1:07:04. At around 18 miles into the race, Jepchirchir and four other top competitors separated themselves from the rest of the field and ran together for most of the remaining distance.
As they neared the finish line, Alemu was dropped from the leading trio, leaving Jepchirchir and two others to battle it out. With just over a minute left to run, Jepchirchir made her move and pulled ahead of her opponents with her signature finish. She crossed the finish line in 2:16:16, breaking the previous women-only world record set by Keitany in 2017 at 2:17:01.
Jepchirchir’s remarkable performance at this event solidified her status as a dominant force in marathon running.
