Ethiopia's Tigst Assefa smashed the women-only world record by 26 seconds en route to London Marathon victory on Sunday morning. The 28-year-old clocked two hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds to finally finish on the top of the podium after collecting silver at last year's edition - where Peres Jepchirchir had set the previous mark of 2:16:16 - and the Paris 2024 Olympics, where she was beaten by Sifan Hassan. Hassan was among the favourites again in London but began to fall back behind the leading duo of Assefa and Joyciline Jepkosgei, who had extended their advantage over the Dutchwoman by about two minutes as they passed Canary Wharf station between the 18th and 19th miles. Assefa made her move about four miles later, shrugging off Jepkosgei as they came through the Embankment tunnel. Jepkosgei ultimately claimed silver in 2:18:43 and Hassan settled for bronze in 2:18:59. Eilish McColgan, the 10,000m gold medallist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, was eighth in her belated debut marathon in a Scottish record time of 2:24:25. And she was not the only British woman in the top 10, which also included ninth-placed Rose Harvey in 2:25:01, but her compatriot Charlotte Purdue could not finish after pulling up with a calf issue. Swiss six-time Paralympic champion Catherine Debrunner successfully defended her 2024 title in the elite women's wheelchair race for a third London victory, smashing her own course record in 1:34:18, just two seconds off the world record she set at the Berlin marathon in 2023. American Susannah Scaroni was second and Debrunner's compatriot Manuela Schar third, while Britain's Eden Rainbow-Cooper improved on her sixth-place finish last year, but narrowly missed the podium in fourth. Debrunner was in a field of her own throughout her race, but for a while the same could not be said for the dominant Swiss defending men's champion Marcel Hug, who found himself with an uncomfortably narrow seven-second advantage over Japanese challenger Tomoki Suzuki at the halfway point. But the gap grew, and Hug crossed the line in 1:25:25, 44 seconds quicker than silver medallist Suzuki, with Dutch athlete Jetze Plat rounding out the podium. Britain's eight-time London Marathon winner David Weir was sixth.