Alex Yee endured more “dark moments” on his London Marathon debut than during his Olympic triathlon-winning turn in Paris but still declared it an experience of a lifetime.
The 27-year-old Londoner crossed the finish in two hours, 11 minutes and eight seconds, good enough for 14th place in his first attempt at the distance, in a race won for the first time by Kenyan Sabastian Sawe in 2:02:27 – the second-fastest time in London Marathon history.
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa smashed the women-only world record by 26 seconds en route to gold, while Olympic distance runner Eilish McColgan set a new Scottish record on her own belated London Marathon debut.
.
“It was seriously tough,” said Yee, “but probably one of the best moments in my life. Just the feeling of everyone, that experience, I can’t really put into words. The experience of running into London, the crowds.
“I expected them to be good, but that was a whole other level. I’m just immensely proud.”
Sawe, 29, came out on top of a stacked men’s field that included a much-anticipated marathon debut for Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo, the world record-holder in the half marathon, who was runner-up.
Kenyan Alexander Munyao rounded out the podium, while there was a sixth-place finish for 40-year-old four-time London champion and marathon elder statesman Eliud Kipchoge.
Yee was the second-fastest British man behind Mahamed Mahamed, last year’s fourth-place finisher in London, who was ninth overall.
The triathlete pulled off an incredible late comeback last summer in Paris to claim gold but felt his maiden marathon was an entirely different challenge.
He said: “Definitely a lot more dark moments, I’d say, more than Paris, today. Once I got to 32, 33k there’s a lot of pain there. My legs are cramping and I just had to keep fighting through that.
“And yeah, (I’m) pretty proud to get to the finish line.”
Yee has a “hard reset” in February, when he will turn back to triathlon ahead of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
He added: “Hopefully I will evolve as a person, as an athlete. I wanted to do that in a unique way. I wanted to do this race all my life, the opportunity fell to do it, and I couldn’t say no.”
Last year’s London Marathon and Olympic silver medallist Assefa clocked 2:11.50, lowering the marker set by Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya in London last year.
Joyciline Jepkosgei claimed silver and Paris 2024 Olympic champion Sifan Hassan finished third.
McColgan, the fastest British woman, clocked 2:24:25, lower than the personal best 2:26:52 set by her mother Liz, who won the London Marathon in 1996. She also chipped more than two minutes off the 2:26:40 set by fellow Scot Stephanie Twell in October 2019.
“Time-wise, I’m a little bit disappointed,” she said. “I do think I’m capable of running sub-2:20:00, that’s the big goal.
“This will be a good stepping-stone. Maybe I can do that in the next major, maybe we look at London or Berlin or one of the ones later in the year, but it’s still, I have the Scottish record, still my mum’s record, so I’ve broken that at least.
“And yeah, not bad for my first ever.”
Swiss six-time Paralympic champion Catherine Debrunner successfully defended her 2024 title in the elite women’s wheelchair race, and her compatriot Marcel Hug did the same in the men’s.
London Marathon live: Sabastian Sawe wins men’s race, Tigst Assefa sets world record
London Marathon 2025 prize money: How much will the winners get?
Alex Yee enters the unknown at London Marathon and invites you with him
Tadej Pogacar takes effortless third win at Liege-Bastogne-Liege
Ben Duckett helps Division One leaders Nottinghamshire to victory over Sussex
Nottingham Forest vs Man City LIVE: FA Cup semi-final team live scores and updates
