Women’s race at London Marathon will be harder to win than gold at Paris Olympics, event director Brasher says
- Sunday’s race will feature world’s fastest female marathoner, Tigist Assefa, and three of the four fastest women ever
- Assefa says she wants to break the course record, and organiser Hugh Brasher has ‘no idea who is going to win’
London Marathon event director Hugh Brasher is predicting a more competitive women’s race on Sunday than at the Paris Olympics this summer, and believes the women’s-only world record may fall.
The world’s fastest female marathoner, Tigist Assefa, headlines an elite field that features seven athletes who have run under two hours, 17 minutes and 30 seconds, including three of the four fastest women ever.
“No race in the history of our sport has ever had that,” Brasher said. “So I have no idea who’s going to win but I think it’s going to be an incredibly competitive event.
“This will be a harder marathon to win than the Olympic Marathon in Paris, I’m pretty goddamn certain of that.”
Assefa clocked 2:11.53 at the Berlin Marathon in September, setting the world record for women in a race alongside male runners, and is aiming to break Mary Keitany’s mark of 2:17:01 set in a women-only race at the 2017 London Marathon.
“I did train very well for Berlin and I have trained well for this one. God will show how good I am on Sunday,” Assefa said.