Because the spring marathon season shifts gears from Boston to London, all eyes are actually on Jacob Kiplimo. The 24-year-old Ugandan distance star will make his much-anticipated marathon debut this Sunday on the 2025 TCS London Marathon.
Kiplimo, the present half-marathon world file holder, shocked the operating world earlier this yr with a blistering 56:42 efficiency in Barcelona. The tempo, if carried by 42.2 kilometres, would undertaking him properly below the elusive two-hour barrier—a mark that hasn’t been damaged in an official race. Naturally, the hypothesis round Kiplimo’s debut has sparked speak amongst followers about whether or not we’ll see a world file in London, or perhaps a sub-two-hour try.
Jacob Kiplimo is likely one of the largest names debuting within the London Marathon this month. Will we see the quickest debut ever? pic.twitter.com/LiWEvR54uy
— Justin Lagat (@LagatJustin) April 8, 2025
Regardless of the thrill, Kiplimo isn’t shopping for into the speak. “On Sunday, I’ve to first run a superb race earlier than I begin fascinated by time,” Kiplimo instructed reporters at Friday’s elite athlete press convention in London. “Towards this deep area, I’d be proud of making the rostrum.”
The marathon world file at present belongs to the late Kelvin Kiptum, who clocked 2:00:35 on the 2023 Chicago Marathon. Whereas pundits have pegged Kiplimo because the potential inheritor to Kiptum’s file, and maybe the subsequent to problem the two-hour barrier, Kiplimo and his group have saved their expectations in examine.
“He has run extraordinarily fast for the half, however we’re not speaking about sub-two hours,” mentioned his agent, Federico Rosa, to reporters. “I anticipate us to be someplace round 2:01, 2:02 within the males’s race.”
Kiplimo’s consistency and dominance over cross nation and the half marathon have made him one of the thrilling distance abilities of the final 5 years. His Ugandan compatriot, Joshua Cheptegei, has discovered comparable success on the monitor, holding world data over 5,000m and 10,000m. However Cheptegei’s marathon debut didn’t go as many hoped—he light to a 2:08:59 end in Valencia 2023.
“I’ve been doing 220km per week for the marathon. Earlier than it was round 120km.”
Jacob Kiplimo talks by his expectations for @LondonMarathon after his half-marathon 56:42 WR from Barcelona 🇺🇬
He needs to concentrate on his personal race and isn’t bothered by speak of operating a… pic.twitter.com/VYNMQcsQwL
— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) April 24, 2025
For London, Kiplimo says he considerably elevated his weekly coaching load and mileage from 120 km to 220 km. It’s a pointy uptick aimed toward making his marathon debut as clean and powerful as doable.
Kiplimo will face a powerful males’s area that includes the defending champion Alexander Mutiso, four-time London Marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge and 2024 Olympic gold medallist within the marathon, Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola. All three males may not have the velocity to hold with Kiplimo, however they’ll 100 per cent depend on their expertise and techniques to get one of the best of the younger star.
Easy methods to watch
You probably have a subscription to FloTrack, you may observe Sunday’s marathon protection beginning at 3:30 a.m. E.T. The elite ladies will begin at 9 a.m. native time, whereas the elite males will go off at 9:40 a.m.
