British athletes
There were a number of good performances by GB athletes at the London Marathon, including:
Men
10 Mahamed Mahamed 2:06:14
11 Patrick Dever 2:06.18
13 Weynay Ghebresilasie 2:06.59
14 Jack Rowe 2:07.47
16 Philip Sesseman 2:08:41
Women
7 Eilish McColgan 2:24.51
8 Julia Paternain 2:25:47
9 Rose Harvey 2:26:14
12 Jess Warner Judd 2:29:28
I know that Julia Paternain is really Uruguayan, but she did grow up in the UK and ran the London mini-marathon in her youth!
(Here’s our interview with Julia Paternain about her Tokyo bronze medal-winning marathon: https://www.runblogrun.com/2026/01/socialing-the-distance-julia-paternain-saucony-sponsored-athlete-bronze-medalist-in-the-2025-tokyo-world-championships.html?swcfpc=1 )
Mahamed Mahamed was delighted to be told that only Mo Farah among GB athletes has run a faster marathon, adding: “It’s very important to me to be the best of the British runners. I’m very proud, amazed, and happy to have earned the title today, especially after the pressure of last year. I’m privileged to be in a strong group of runners who were still running together at 30-35km.
For me, it was perfect conditions today – I was running a controlled race. The timing was better this year, in that I had three to four weeks to recover from the Ramadan fast, compared to only one week last year. I’m very proud to be running a race with Sab [Sabastian] Sawe and to share some distance with him. I am keen to go faster. Mo Farah’s British record is a target for me next year, but today was a good day of running for me.”
Patrick Dever said of his race: “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.”
Thursday 23rd April 2026
Photo: Andrew Baker for London Marathon Events
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Philip Sesemann, “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.”
Photo: Peter Nicholls for London Marathon Events
Eilish McColgan shared how an injury impaired her progress: “Not long after halfway, I had a really, really bad blister in my foot. It sounds strange saying it, but the only way I can explain it is that I felt my foot just exploded. It was obviously pretty sore, and it panicked me a little bit. Yeah, I just felt like I was running a bit funny, and I couldn’t put pressure through my foot. Part of me was like ‘it’s a long way to make it to 26.2’ It just started to hurt in different areas then as well. I got to like twenty-four miles, and my knee started playing up, but I just thought, ‘I can’t get to twenty-four miles and not finish it’. I had to go to see the doctor after a race, and I just couldn’t put any pressure through my foot, and it was just totally covered with blood. So, yeah, it’s just frustrating, a little bit frustrating to run the same sort of time as I did last year in my debut”.
Rose Harvey commented, “It was a bit of a tough day. I got a 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 the London Marathon. Lots of the women are running the second half by themselves, 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.”
Jess Warner-Judd did not speak to media afterwards. One thing to note was that it was a husband and wife marathon: Rob Warner Judd 02:28:16; Jess Warner Judd 2:29:28.
