Both defending champions are among the greatest fields ever assembled for the TCS London Marathon on Sunday 23 April 2023 – the first marathon ever to feature two men with best times inside 2:02:00 (and four inside 2:03:00) plus the best line-up that has ever been seen in a women's marathon, including three current world record holders and two reigning Olympic champions.

The world's second fastest marathon runner Kenenisa Bekele (PB 2:01:41) and Kelvin Kiptum, the surprise winner of the 2022 Valencia Marathon and the fastest marathon debutant in history (2:01:53) will be joined by Birhanu Legese (2:02:48) and Mosinet Geremew (2:02:55) which means the 2023 TCS London Marathon will include four of the five fastest men in history.

In addition, the London champion Amos Kipruto (2:03:13) and 2022 world champion Tamirat Tola (2:03:39) are also returning in April. Last year's winner can't wait for the opportunity to defend his title: “Winning last year’s TCS London Marathon was an incredible experience for me. I am now preparing hard for this year’s race and I can’t wait to return to London as the champion. London always has a really strong field and this year is the same so I know I will face a battle to defend my title, but I’m confident and looking forward to it.”

The lure of London has drawn the world's greatest female distance runners to the capital city for the most star-studded marathon race ever held. Three world record holders are headed by defending London champion Yalemzerf Yehualaw (2:17:23) – who holds the 10K world best. Marathon world record holder Brigid Kosgei (2:14:04) will start as favourite, though, and the other global leader is Genzebe Dibaba (2:18:05) – current holder of the 1500m world record.
 
In what Hugh Brasher, Event Director of TCS London Marathon describes as: "Quite simply the greatest women’s field ever assembled for a marathon – arguably the greatest field ever assembled for a women’s distance race", Olympic marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir (2:17:16) will be a factor and reigning Olympic 10,000m and 5000m champion Sifan Hassan will be making her much-anticipated debut.

We previewed the leading British contenders on runABC Newsdesk last week and now we can see the true scale of the monumental challenge the home nation's athletes will face in London.

For a link to London Marathon results and stories visit the runABC race listing here.

Image courtesy TCS London Marathon press office