Standout quotes & video

“It means a lot. I want to inspire young people from my country, to give them hope.”

I asked him when he knew he’d broken the record: “I think I realised when finishing the race because I was so focused on competing with my friend, Yomif [Kejelcha]. Finally he dropped and in the finishing line I saw I was in one hour 59 and that’s when I realised.”

“It is a day to remember for me and the family.”

On his debut in under 2 hours: “I really didn’t think about it. I thought I’d be more around 2:01-2:04, but my coaches believed in me. I’m so happy and proud of myself. This is my dream.”

“I felt I ran a relaxed and controlled race up until 41km and then my legs were done.” 

“My track-training work has been very helpful and it’s been truly amazing to be training in Ethiopia. I’m sure many people at home are very proud of me and many of them believe in my ability to run faster.”

“It’s very important to me to be the best of the British runners. I’m very proud, amazed and happy to get the title today especially from the pressure of last year. I’m privileged to be in a strong group of runners where we’re still running together at 30-35km.”

Mahamed Mahamed said the timing of Ramadan this year made preparation easier, giving him more time to recover before Marathon Day: “For me it was perfect conditions today – I was running a controlled race. It was better this year, in that I had three to four weeks to recover, compared to only one week last year.”

On his body adapting to this level of running: “I’m still learning and I want to run faster. I’m very proud to be running a race with Sab [Sabastian] Sawe and to share some distance with him. I’m keen to go faster. Mo Farah’s record is a target for me next year but today was a good day of running for me.”

About his pace until midway: “I find it difficult to know which group to run in because my pace is in between the two. But I wanted to push myself today, so when the gun went, I just chased the guy!”

“I had a great pacemaker in Alex [Yee] so I was able to concentrate and keep the appropriate pace.” 

“I started feeling a cramp at 35K and had to slow down for about 20 minutes but then I got my cadence right.”

“I’m more than a little bit disappointed not to be the first Brit.”

“I went through 23K really hard and then I felt the pace.”

“I’m extremely disappointed in my time today. I was aiming for 2:06 and I did 2:08 and that’s a big gap at this level.”

On breaking the World Record: “Thank you to God. I screamed when I finished because I knew I was breaking the World Record.”

“I’m so happy because I’ve been more focused on my speed work. I knew I could find the energy and I could win on my speed.”

Compared to previous races: “I felt much healthier today and have worked really hard on my speed and all my training has paid off.”

“Thank you to God for this fantastic competition, and I wanted to thank my opponents, many of whom are my friends. They've done great, and well done!”

On the last moments of the race: “During the competition I felt really good and full of running. I’ve recorded my 800m running experience and I knew that I would have the speed to finish in first place.”

About the three-way competition at the end of the race: “They are tough competitors. I respect them and I think, between us, we’ve made a great competition today.”

“The first half was so great and so fast.”

“I kept pushing throughout.”

“I’ll be out celebrating with my family tonight.”

“I’m super happy getting 2:15.” 

“It was a fantastic new experience running with pacemakers.”

“That was my best run.” 

"To finish with my personal best here in London, it's amazing for me."

Speaking about the crowds: "They cheer so loud all the way and I'm so happy when I'm running. They give us more motivation and give us strength to arrive at the Finish Line strong."

“It was a bit of a tough day. I got cramp at about 25K and it kind of hampered me a bit. But as always, it was an amazing day out and the crowds were just incredible.

“It really helps when you get a solo race like London. Lots of the women are running the second half by ourselves, and the crowds are phenomenal.

“I was coming back from injury, so it was a bit of a short build-up and, to be honest, in January I really didn’t think I was going to be lining up for a marathon. I was so desperate not to miss London, so it feels like a bonus just to be here.”

“I’m really happy to have got to the Finish Line healthy and could compete another year, it’s my sixth London Marathon and it’s so good to be back.”

"I'm not much into statistics but it's a great standard to be equal with David [Weir] who is a legend here in London and a legend in general."

What gets you out of bed in the morning? "Just pushing the wheelchair is a great feeling. I really love to improve myself, to become a better version as an athlete."

"The experience of marathons like here in London, the atmosphere, the people, they are really amazing."

"Right now I feel exhausted, I'm very satisfied. The win today in London is always amazing.”

“I had a good race. It was tougher and more difficult than I thought it would be. For me, there was too much cornering: I did enjoy it, but I mostly train on track and don’t do a lot of road racing.”

“The start was really good! Much better than the Boston Marathon, where the start went off too quickly for me and I had an accident.”

“I like London – this has been a good performance for me and I’ll be back next year.”

“I’m getting older, and I don’t know if it’s my last one. I’m probably one of the oldest in the field so I had to train harder and change things in the gym.”

“I’ve got to be proud of myself today. It was one of my best performances in my career: I put my heart and soul in there today.”

“It was a strong battle between Luo [Xingchuan] and myself.”

“It was quite a different race than I expected. It was very tactical at the end.”

“I struggled because my Garmin didn’t work and I had no idea where I was and what speed I was doing but you need to be flexible and to adapt in wheelchair racing.”

“Winning once is much easier than defending a title. But I trust my body and I know how hard I can go.”

“Every victory is very special and it’s a very competitive field at the moment.”

“My next races are on the track and the next marathon for me is Berlin.”

"I feel really good. I have a lot of good changes. It's hard, it's just such a competitive, wonderful field."

"I'm just so happy about the longevity of this sport. Because I've had some things come up and you just have to deal with the situations and get right back to training. I feel like it's always a puzzle and you're trying to solve it."

Speaking about the sprint finish with DeBrunner: "It was a little bit of a surprise towards the end. In the last half mile, she just kept up a really high accelerated pace into the turn. I probably should have been more aware of that so I could have taken the turns a little bit better. But, I'm happy that I did a pretty good job."

"It's been a little bit hard for me in London the past couple years, last year wasn't so good. And so you just have to figure out how you can evolve."

Tatyana is planning to switch over to sprinting after this, in preparation for the LA games in 2028.

"I'm going to switch over to sprinting. We're hosting the Games in LA 28 so this is the time to try things and see what works and what doesn't.

Everything we're doing is for that target."

“It means a lot to be back on the podium! Every podium place is a big success and I will celebrate in style.”

“Today was a great race. I love London, but it was a tough one.”

“[The] London [course] is special because it’s flat, fast and super technical, so you need to do it a few times for it to feel better.”

“This race is close to home for me. I love the London Marathon team – I always feel very welcome.”

“My valve snapped on the way in and I didn’t have a spare one: lesson learned!”

“I missed the Start completely.”

“I had to do all of the race on one half-flat tyre which is far from ideal.”

“I’m so disappointed and feeling a lot of emotion right now.”