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Post Race: Men's Race and Commentary |
Women's Race and Commentary | Complete Searchable Results
Pre-Race:
London Marathon Preview |
Elite Athlete Past Matchups |
Some Pre-Race Comments
| Prize Money & Starter List
Athlete Bios:
Men's Race - Top Competitors |
Women's Race - Top Competitors
Interesting Extras:
Athlete/Course Videos |
Course Map
Other News Sources: Press Releases |
General Press
photo: Clive Rose/Getty Images Sport |
[What we write post-race]:
The London Marathon did what it promised - presented two FAST marathons and created or ratified some marathon heroes. Sammy Wanjiru, at 22 years old, can arguably be called the best marathon runner of all-time. While his time of 2:05:10 puts him only seventh on the list of all-time marathon times, his course-record performance as a followup to the Olympic Gold Medal is impressive. The women's race was disappointing - in that our two favorites, Catherine Ndereba and Zhou Chunxiu, did terribly. But the women's race was also also amazing in that it ratified Irina Mikitenko as a bona fide champion; elevated Mara Yamauchi - already one of the UK's best distance runners - to the top ranks of marathoning; and reminded us that even a newcomer to the marathon can succeed.
[What we wrote pre-race and we leave it here as background]:
Celebrating its 29th year, the London Marathon is always a fast and competitive race and this year is no exception. Using prestige, money and the promise of fast times, the London Marathon organizers are able to attract the best talent in the marathoning world.
There has also been a competition brewing between the marathon majors, particularly London and Berlin (and previously Chicago, but it is out of this running), at which marathon the world record can be set. On April 13, 2003, London laid claim to being the site of both the men's and women's marathon world records (Khalid Khannouchi in 2002 and Paula Radcliffe in 2003). But since 2003, Berlin has bested the men's world record three times... Among other things, London will hope that the 2009 edition of the race will see a new world record set in the men's race - to regain the title. And if any of the men in the field wins the race in world record fashion, he will earn $280,000 from the published award tables (and who knows what other incentives and promises have been made behind the scenes)... There is a lot at stake here.
...If the weather conditions are just right, we may see some history. Look for three women to run sub-2:20 in the same race, a feat that has never happened before. And among the men, look for London to reclaim the world record, it may be done...
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The Elite Race
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Post-Race/Race Recaps
The Men's Race
The Women's Race
Race Preview
The Men
The men's race features the Gold, Silver and Bronze Medalists from the Beijing Olympics, the top four finishers from the 2008 London Marathon (and 7 of the top 10) and a host of other notables.... Martin Lel will hope to earn his fourth London Marathon title and become the second man ever to win three London Marathons in a row (Dionicio Ceron was the other who won in 1994-96). Others who might expect glory are Sammy Wanjiru who has the potential to break the world record, Jaouad Gharib who was second to Wanjiru at the Beijing Olympics and Abderrahim Goumri who has been second behind Lel three times and faded terribly after leading the Olympic Marathon. This is a marathon and anything can happen - read all about it...
The Women
As with the men's race, the women's race boasts the Gold, Silver and Bronze medalists from the Beijing Olympics as well as the top three finishers from the 2008 London Marathon and seven of the top ten women. The women's race is an historic assembly of elite runners but is noticeably missing World Record holder Paula Radcliffe. However, the women boast Olympic hardware, too - Constantina Dita, Catherine Ndereba, and Zhou Chunxiu look to defend or improve upon their one-two-three finish in Beijing. We'll look for a classic battle between Catherine N'dereba and Zhou Chunxiu in a rematch of their Silver/Bronze finish at the Beijing Olympics (sadly, the story goes, they were unaware that there was another runner - Dita - ahead of them for much of the race and were unable to react). Irina Mikitenko will also be keen to defend her title - it will be a good race.
Get Race Insight, a detailed starter list with accomplishments and More:
Read the Marathon Preview
Previous Head-To-Head Performances/Meetings
Many of the elite athletes at the 2009 London Marathon have faced off at other marathons. Take a look at our head-to-head display of all of the past meetings of these runners - you can learn a lot about these athletes by seeing how they've performed against each other in the past.
Previous Elite Head-To-Head Performances
Athlete Bios
MarathonGuide.com has compiled biographies for most of the top men and women in the field - who they are, why you should care. These are some of the best marathoners in the world - some are race-hardened veterans and others are still fighting to show that they are the best of the best. Anything can happen on race day and it helps to understand who these men and women are.
Men's Race - The Top Competitors
Women's Race - The Top Competitors
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What Others Are Writing...
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We're not the only ones who love this race, and we're not the only one covering it, but we hand-deliver links to press releases and news articles not written by the MarathonGuide.com staff, just for you.
London Marathon Press Releases
London Marathon News
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Past Years...
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MarathonGuide.com has been covering the London Marathon since 2007. Our past coverage can tell you what has been the past strategy and from history we can learn about the future...
London Marathon 2008
London Marathon 2007
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