London Marathon 2024: elite races and more – live

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David Weir, a prominent athlete in wheelchair racing from Britain, is set to participate in his 25th London Marathon race, which happens to be the first elite race of the day.

Weir has won the most number of times in the competition, with eight victories under his belt. He will be competing with a new wheelchair, which has helped him surpass his own best performances. This could be the advantage that he needs to clinch a ninth win at the upcoming London event.

According to Weir, the chair made by Sauber (who has a Formula One team named Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber) is essentially a Formula One chair. He added that it is highly satisfying to push due to how it feels.

In the upcoming London race, Weir will be competing against the reigning top wheelchair racer, Marcel Hug. Hailing from Switzerland, Hug holds the distinction of being the only person to win all six Abbott World Marathon Majors - Tokyo, Boston, Berlin, Chicago, New York, and London - in one season. He accomplished this feat last year and is now looking to secure his fourth consecutive victory at the London marathon.

According to Hugh Brasher, who is in charge of organizing the London Marathon, the women's competition might be more challenging than the Olympic race.

Brasher said that no other race before has experienced such a thing in the history of their sport. He acknowledges that he doesn't know who will emerge as the winner but expects the competition to be fierce. According to him, this marathon will be more challenging to win compared to the Olympic marathon in Paris.

Sean Ingle is here with additional information.

Regarding the article, Tigist Assefa from Ethiopia has expressed her desire to break her own women's marathon world record by achieving a time of less than two hours and ten minutes. However, she acknowledges that her primary objective for the present day is simply to emerge as the victor.

In the Berlin race that took place last September, Assefa achieved an amazing time of 2 hours, 11 minutes, and 53 seconds. This time surpassed the previous record set by Brigid Kosgei in 2019, which was 2 hours and 14 minutes and 4 seconds.

However, when questioned about her intentions of achieving a quick time in London, Assefa was more cautious in her response. She stated that her main objective was to emerge victorious. It appears as though Assefa won't be pushing herself too hard today. This could be due to the fact that she has another marathon taking place in Paris for the Olympics, which is less than four months away. Despite this, Assefa is still the clear favourite to win.

Assefa is set to compete against past record holder Kosgei, her countrymate Ruth Chepngetich, Olympic champ Peres Jepchirchir, and the victor of the 2022 London Marathon, Yalemzerf Yehualaw.

Tamirat Tola, the winner of the New York City Marathon in November, is excited to perform well in the men's race. He placed third last year and hopes to do better this time around. His rivals include Mosinet Geremew, who achieved the third-best time in history during the 2019 London Marathon, and Kenenisa Bekele, who has won three gold medals in the Olympics and has a long list of achievements.

Hi there! We're here to give you live updates on the 2024 London Marathon. It's a beautiful day outside, perfect for a run. I'm excited to bring you along on my journey as I complete the full 26.2 miles (42.195 km) course across the city.

I'm not serious. The furthest distance I've ever run continuously was a 5km competition when I was roughly 12 years old. The only reason I did it was because of school.

It's fortunate that we will get to see a huge number of people participating in today's race, breaking the previous record with an estimated attendance of over 50,000 individuals. I won't be joining in, but you won't even notice my absence.

Moreover, we cannot forget about the top-notch competitions. The possibility of breaking the world record is very much in the air, and some of the British athletes are determined to leave their lasting impression.

If you happen to be present at the race, either lending support to someone participating or simply enjoying the ambiance, kindly relay your anecdotes to me along with any charitable organizations that you'd like to endorse.

At 9:05 in the morning, the races for elite men and women in wheelchairs will commence (all times listed are in British Summer Time).

begins. The competition for the best female athletes commenced at 9.25am.

The men's elite race and mass start will take place at 10 in the morning.