The 2023 London Marathon was the 43rd running of the annual London Marathon on 23 April 2023. It was the first time since 2019 that the event was run in the spring, as the previous three races were run in autumn due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The elite men's and women's events were won by Kelvin Kiptum and Sifan Hassan in times of 2:01:25 and 2:18:33 respectively; Kiptum's time was a course record. The wheelchair men's and women's competitions were won by Marcel Hug and Madison de Rozario in course record times of 1:23:44 and 1:38:51 respectively. Around 48,000 athletes finished the mass participation event, beating the previous record set in 2019.
Background
In August 2021, race organisers confirmed that the 2023 event would take place on 23 April; the 2020, 2021 and 2022 events were all held in autumn due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The winners of the elite events received $55,000, and prizes were given to the top 10 finishers. The total prize money for each elite event was $313,000. The prize money for the winners of the wheelchair races was increased by $10,000 to $45,000, with total prize money for each wheelchair event increased from $199,500 to $253,500.
For the first time, competitors in the mass participation event could register as non-binary; there was no elite event for non-binary competitors. 118 non-binary competitors signed for the race. There was a virtual marathon held on the same date as the in-person event. In the United Kingdom, the races were broadcast on BBC One, and it was broadcast in 197 countries.
Course
The marathon distance was officially long as sanctioned by World Athletics. The London Marathon was run over a mainly flat course, starting in Blackheath. The course began at three separate points and they converged just before into the race. At just after into the race, the runners reached the 19th-century clipper Cutty Sark docked in Greenwich and at about halfway into the race, the runners crossed Tower Bridge before heading east into Shadwell and Canary Wharf. After winding through Canary Wharf, the route returned through Shadwell on the other side of the road to which it entered before passing through Tower Hill. The runners entered the underpass in Blackfriars before running along the Thames Embankment, past Westminster and onto Birdcage Walk. The course then ran parallel to St James's Park before turning onto The Mall and finishing in front of Buckingham Palace.
Competitors
The elite men's race featured four of the fastest five competitors in history: Kenenisa Bekele, Kelvin Kiptum, Birhanu Legese and Mosinet Geremew. Bekele has won multiple Olympic medals and Kiptum recorded the fastest marathon debut ever at the 2022 Valencia Marathon. Amos Kipruto, who won the 2022 race, also returned in 2023. Other competitors included Tamirat Tola, who won the marathon event at the 2022 World Athletics Championships, Geoffrey Kamworor, who has won two New York City Marathons, Leul Gebresilase, who finished second at the 2022 London Marathon, and Vincent Kipchumba, who finished second in both 2020 and 2021. Briton Mo Farah raced in his final London Marathon, and other British athletes included Weynay Ghebresilasie, the fastest finishing Briton in 2022, Emile Cairess, Chris Thompson and Dewi Griffiths. World record holder Eliud Kipchoge did not compete in London, as he chose to race the 2023 Boston Marathon instead.
The elite women's race featured five runners with a personal best (PB) time under 2:18, and ten runners with a PB under 2:19. Competitors included world record holder Brigid Kosgei, 2020 Summer Olympics champion Peres Jepchirchir and 2022 winner Yalemzerf Yehualaw. Other competitors included Genzebe Dibaba, the record holder in the 1,500 metres and Almaz Ayana, who won the 10,000 metres event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Sifan Hassan, who won the 5,000 and 10,000 metres events at the 2020 Olympics made her marathon debut, and Sheila Chepkirui was a late addition to the field, after being unable to get a US visa to run the Boston Marathon. British competitors included Stephanie Davis, Samantha Harrison and Alice Wright.
Tigist Assefa, who won the 2022 Berlin Marathon, withdrew in March 2023 due to tendonitis. Britons Jess Piasecki and Charlotte Purdue both withdrew in the same month. On 21 April, Briton Eilish McColgan withdrew due to a knee injury; she had been scheduled to make her marathon debut at the event.
The men's wheelchair competition featured Marcel Hug, who had won the previous two events. Other competitors included Daniel Romanchuk, who came second in 2022, and eight-time former winner David Weir in his 24th consecutive London Marathon.