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timeHidden in a corner of Iten, Kenya, Emile Keres An overdue statement is being planned. besides london marathon 2026 is the stage where Britain’s best marathon prospects hope to finally turn potential into performances that could finally topple Jazz Mr. Farah and his famous men’s record of over 26.2 miles.
Kelis, 28, who methodically logs miles and days at altitude in East Africa, calls Farah “Britain’s greatest ever endurance athlete” and the Bradford man has shown huge potential at the iconic distance, finishing third at the 2024 London Marathon before finishing fourth at the Paris Olympics.
The art of marathoning involves getting to the starting line and conditioning your body to withstand more than two hours of punishment, something Keres has since faced. Tonsillitis and ankle problems forced him to withdraw from last year’s London Marathon, and the sweltering heat and humidity in Tokyo prevented him from competing at last year’s world championships.
The carrot of the Farah era, 2:05:11, brought new excitement and despite stressing the need to avoid injury and compete for the prestige of the podium, Keires seemed determined to fulfill his potential on the streets of London.
“The 2024 London Marathon is my last marathon and the main focus is how fast I can run, so I’m looking forward to running it again. I’m still looking for a good position there. The first priority is to get to the start line healthy. If you’re not at the start line, then you can’t perform,” Kehres explained, before revealing his thoughts on the pace duties at last year’s Valencia Marathon. While helping friends Phil Theisman Alex Yee had times of 2:07.11 and 2:06:38, and Cairess was close to the full distance and his personal best (2:06:46).
“My first job was as a pacer for the 2:06 kilometer group. When I got to 30k, my focus was more on Phil, especially because Phil and I It’s really close and we’re really good friends. I never thought about finishing the race, to be honest. If I did finish and I got a little bit of a PB, I feel like that doesn’t reflect where I am now. If I saw my name on the scoreboard and it said 2:06, I’d be disappointed, so yeah, I definitely don’t want to finish.”
While Kehres continues to draw comparisons to Farah, his competitive instincts may be more in line with the fierce competition at home in Patrick Dever, who just finished fourth at the infamous New York City Marathon (2:08:58) and is also confirmed to run the London Marathon in April.
Dever finished the fight in New York behind Albert Korir, who was suspended earlier this month for containing a banned substance, setting up the prospect of a domestic fight with Kehres in the coming years.
“I’m very proud of my debut in New York,” Dever, 29, said. “It shows that I can be competitive in the best marathons in the world. I’ve fought Emile many times over the years at many venues but obviously never at the marathon distance. We’re close in age and have raced against each other many times, so it will be good to do it again on the big stage.”
Theisman will also race in London again this year, with Mohamed Mohamed (2:07:05) adding further depth to the British race.
“I think it’s great to see that we’re achieving a better standard in British running than we were five or six years ago,” said Keires, who will run the Malaga Half Marathon in March in preparation for London. “There are now four athletes running sub-2:08, and although Paddy didn’t run that fast, he only did it once. It’s a really good race in New York and it’s definitely worth it to go faster. The faster the Brits can go, the better for everyone. But I always keep my sights ahead and try to compete with the top Kenyans and Ethiopians.
“That’s where I’m looking. I’m not really focused on being the best Englishman I can be and I think that mentality can lead to, yeah, underperforming on a larger scale.”
The women’s domestic field was also unpredictable, with Eilish McColgan returning from her debut last year with an encouraging time of 2:24:25 to finish eighth. Charlotte Purdue, Rose Harvey, Abbie Donnelly and Jess Warner-Judd will all come together to break the 2:20 barrier again, 21 years after Paula Radcliffe last broke it in London.
“Now that I’ve run one marathon I’m happy to be able to capitalize on the experience from last time
Another year begins again,” McColgan said. “The British Women’s Marathon is in
So this will be a great opportunity for us to showcase that in a world-class arena. “
2026 TCS London Marathon: British men’s entry list
– Emile Keres (UK, 2:06:46)
– Mohamed Mohamed (UK, 2:07:05)
– Philipp Theisman (UK, 2:07:10)
– Patrick Dever (UK, 2:08:58)
– Dewi Griffiths (UK, 2:09:49)
– The Great Ghebresilasie (UK, 2:09:50)
– Tevelde Menges (UK, 2:09:58)
– George James (UK, 2:10:10)
– Jack Smith (UK, 2:11:00)
– Mark Scott (UK, 2:11:19)
– Jack Rowe (UK, 2:12:31)
– Andrew Fife (UK, 2:13:20)
– Alex Milne (UK, 2:14:03)
– Peter Le Grice (UK, 2:14:45)
– Sean Hogan (UK, 2:14:51)
– Christopher Thomas (UK, 2:14:55)
– Jack Baraclough (UK, 2:14:55)
– Chris Perry (UK, 2:14:57)
– David Bishop (UK, 2:15:16)
– Charlie Sandison (UK, 2:15:38)
– William Mycroft (UK, 2:15:54)
– Alfie Manthorpe (UK, debut)
2026 TCS London Marathon: British women’s entry list
-Charlotte Purdue (GB, PB 2:22:17)
– Ross Harvey (UK, 2:23:21)
– Abby Donnelly (UK, 2:24:11)
– Eilish McColgan (UK, 2:24:25)
– Jessica Warner-Judd (UK, 2:24:45)
– Lucy Reid (UK, 2:26:35)
– Louise Small (UK, 2:27:48)
– Alice Wright (UK, 2:28:48)
– Verity Hopkins (UK, 2:31:19)