Eliud Kipchoge headlines London Marathon's greatest field but Jacob Kiplimo is tip to win

Eliud Kipchoge insists he can win a fifth TCS London Marathon. But with a men’s field that organisers have billed as the strongest ever assembled, chances are the Kenyan great will find himself passing the torch.

Veteran Kipchoge, 40, has already been presented with a lifetime achievement award before a race that many insiders reckon is the start of a farewell tour.

The former record holder has not raced since stepping off last summer’s Olympic marathon course and his last win in London was 2018.

Yet he insists that he feels more motivated than ever, adding: "Last year was a tough year, but sport is built by challenges, by dedication. “My preparation feels good and looks good – I will try to beat everyone.”

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That everyone includes Jacob Kiplimo, the most highly-anticipated debutant in recent memory, Olympic champion Tamirat Tola, last year’s winner Alex Mutiso and 2024’s fastest marathoner Sabastian Sawe.

Kiplimo destroyed the half marathon world record by almost a minute in February. How that translates over the full distance will not become apparent until late tomorrow morning and the Ugandan is not getting carried away – even if expectations are dialed up to 11.

“It will present a lot of challenges because the half marathon is not like the full marathon,” Kiplimo said. “But I have prepared myself well. I just want to run my own race.”

Sawe clocked an astounding 2:02:05 to win his debut at Valencia five months ago and Tola, who thrives on hillier courses, pulled out in the latter stages of this race last year before storming to Olympic gold.

That is before factoring in the potential of Mutiso defending a title he won in 2:04.01 12 months ago. “It will be epic running with the strongest field ever,” he said.

British interest is headlined by Olympic triathlon champion Alex Yee, who says he is fulfilling “a lifelong dream” this weekend. “The start line is 2.5K from where I was born and grew up and that is really special,” he said. “I’m going to use the emotions in as effective a way as possible to get me to the finish.”

And he will be joined by Olympians Mahamed Mahamed and Phil Sesemann, both of whom are shooting for personal bests.

Sesemann recently became a father so has chosen to do all his training from home rather than at altitude in Kenya. “It is a little bit more similar to my first marathon build, no training camps, no altitude, just been in Leeds running up and down the canal,” he said.

Yet the absence of Sesemann’s close pal Emile Cairess, widely tipped to eventually beat Mo Farah’s British record, is a blow. Cairess, fourth in the Olympics and third here last year, withdrew several weeks ago because of injury but is aiming for September’s World Championships and has recently been training with Jakob Ingebrigtsen at altitude in Spain.