Home hand-in-hand

There were 6,255 finishers – led home by American Dick Beardsley and Norwegian Inge Simonsen, who crossed the Finish Line hand-in-hand on a rain-swept Constitution Hill. The duo recorded a time of two hours, 11 minutes and 48 seconds while creating a friendship that has lasted a lifetime.

Meanwhile, Joyce Smith broke the British record to win the women’s race in 2:29:57. Smith triumphed again in 1982 as Hugh Jones became the first male British winner. It is the one and only time that Britons have won both male and female races.   

The following year, male and female wheelchair races were introduced, with Britain’s Gordon Perry (3:20:07) and Denise Smith (4:29:03) taking the titles. It’s an event that David Weir and Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson have gone on to dominate, with a record eight and six victories respectively.

World records smashed

Norway’s Ingrid Kristiansen dominated the women’s race in the mid-1980s – winning four titles. She is still the only woman to achieve this feat. At the age of 26, Kenya’s two-time winner Brigid Kosgei has time on her side in her bid to match and possibly surpass Kristiansen’s achievement that dates back to 1988.

World records have been beaten six times at the London Marathon. Norway’s Grete Waitz became the first London Marathon world record holder in 1983, with a time of 2:25:29. Her compatriot Ingrid Kristiansen bettered that two years later with 2:21:06.

Great Britain’s Paula Radcliffe broke the world record twice – 2:15:25 for a mixed marathon in 2003, which remains a course record to this day, and 2:17:42 for a women’s only marathon in 2005. Kenya’s Mary Keitany was also a world record breaker in 2017, with a time of 2:17:01.

The greatest of all time

The only man to set a world record at the London Marathon is the USA’s Khalid Khannouchi, who ran a time of 2:05:38 in 2002. The men's course record is 2:01:25, set by Kenyan long-distance runner Kelvin Kiptum in 2023.

Australia’s Kurt Fearnley set the men’s wheelchair race course record at 1:28:57 in 2009 and the women’s wheelchair course record belongs to Switzerland’s Manuela Schär, who finished in 1:39:57 in 2017.

Consecutive victories

Only five athletes have won three consecutive London Marathon titles – Mexico’s Dionicio Cerón (1994-96) in the men’s race, Germany’s Katrin Dörre-Heinig (1992-94) in the women’s race, David Weir (2006-08) in the men’s wheelchair race, and both Francesca Porcellato (2003-06) of Italy and the USA’s Tatyana McFadden (2013-2016) have gone one better by winning four in a row.

No doubt there will be many more twists, turns and tales of the incredible as the London Marathon enters its fifth decade – we hope you’ll be watching the drama unfold alongside us.

This article was written in November 2020.