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The world's best female long distance and marathon runners have been assembled for the TCS London Marathon, featuring the best African runners on the continent.
The 2023 TCS London Marathon will feature the best long-distance runners ever at the World Athletics Platinum Label road race on April 23.
Organisers of the marathon have revealed their strongest field ever in the women's category, with Africa's best runners included in the star-studded line-up.
Here are the top African runners expected to compete in the British capital
Yalemzerf Yehualaw
The Ethiopian is the defending champion and world 10km record holder with a Personal Best (PB) of 2:17:23.
Brigid Kosgei (Kenya)
Making her fourth appearance in London, she won the 2019 and 2020 editions of the marathon, and the 2021 Tokyo Marathon.
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Kosgei is the current World Record (WR) holder for women running in a mixed-sex race, with a time of 2:14:04 achieved at the 2019 Chicago Marathon, and won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
Peres Jepchirchir (Kenya)
The Tokyo Olympic marathon champion will be making her debut in London. She won the 2016 and 2020 World Half Marathon Championships.
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She has a marathon PB of 2:17:16 and has won her past five marathons – a streak that includes the Olympic Games in 2021, the New York Marathon later that year, and the 2022 Boston Marathon.
Tigest Assefa (Ethiopia)
A former 800m specialist, Assefa made her marathon debut in April 2022 and improved it by over 18 minutes with a time of 2:15:37 to win the 2022 Berlin Marathon - the fifth-fastest mark on the world all-time list.
Almaz Ayana and Genzebe Dibaba (Ethiopia)
They made their marathon debuts in Amsterdam last year. Ayana, the 2016 Olympic 10,000m champion, won in a course record of 2:17:20, while world 1500m record-holder Dibaba was second in 2:18:05.
Judith Jeptum Korir (Kenya)
The 2021 Abu Dhabi marathon champion is the 2022 Paris Marathon Champion, setting a new course record and a new PB time of 2:19:48.
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She lowered this time to 2:18:20 at the 2022 World Championships in Oregon, where she surprisingly won the silver medal.
Alemu Megertu (Ethiopia)
A bronze medallist from the 2022 edition in October, running a PB of 2:18.32, thereby upgrading from her fifth-place finish from 2020.
Megertu is also the reigning Zurich Seville Marathon champion.
Other runners that make up the elite field
The field includes Britain’s Commonwealth 10,000m champion Eilish McColgan who will be making her marathon debut, as will rising Ethiopian star Girmawit Gebrzihair, who ran a promising 1:04:14 on her half marathon debut last year, and Suteme Asefa Kebede with a PB of 2:18:12.
The line-up features three other national record-holders: USA’s Emily Sisson, Australia’s Sinead Diver, and Canada’s Natasha Wodak. Keira D’Amato, who held the North American record before Sission broke it with 2:18:29 in Chicago last year, is also in the field.
In total, the 2023 London Marathon elite women’s field will feature 10 women who have run inside 2:19 and five who have gone under 2:18.
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