Peres Jepchirchir withdraws from London Marathon over injury concerns
Reigning world champion Peres Jepchirchir has pulled out of the 2026 London Marathon following a stress fracture sustained in late 2025.
The Olympic champion picked up the injury during the Valencia Marathon in December 2025, an issue that has since disrupted her training schedule and forced a reassessment of her immediate competitive plans.
Injury setback
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According to the National Olympic Committee of Kenya, the setback significantly affected her preparation cycle, leaving her unable to build the level of fitness required to compete at the highest level in London.
With limited time available before the race, Jepchirchir opted to prioritise her long-term health over rushing back into competition.
”The injury interrupted her training cycle, prompting the reigning world champion to prioritise recovery, as the available preparation time was not sufficient for optimal performance,” NOCK-Olympics Kenya said in a statement on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
Her withdrawal is a major blow to the London Marathon, where she was expected to be among the headline acts in a stacked elite women’s field. Known for her tactical brilliance and strong finishing kicks, Jepchirchir has been one of Kenya’s most consistent performers on the global stage.
Jepchirchir was the champion at the 2016 and 2020 World Half Marathon Championships. She claimed victories at the 2021 New York City and 2022 Boston Marathons and finished third at the 2023 London Marathon.
She claimed a further victory at the 2024 London Marathon, finishing in two hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds and breaking the women’s only world record (that is, the world record for the fastest time by a female marathon runner without using male pace makers).
holds the women’s only half marathon world record of 1:05:16 set at the 2020 World Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia, Poland.
London Marathon
The 2026 TCS London Marathon is scheduled for Sunday, April 26, 2026. As a major World Marathon Major and high-demand event, over 1 million people applied for the event.
World Championships
Jepchirchir won the women’s marathon at the 2025 World Athletics Championships Games in Tokyo on Sunday, September 14, 2025.
She weathered a strong challenge from Tigist Assefa of Ethiopia to stop the clock at 2:24:43, with Assefa coming in two seconds late at 2:24:45.
Julia Paternain from Uruguay came in a surprise third with an impressive time of 2:27:23.
Following a subdued performance at the start, Jepchirchir and Assefa, the world record holder, pulled clear of the pack with around 15 kilometres left. The feat added to her Olympic gold, which she won four years ago during the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic marathon in Sapporo, which had been moved from Tokyo over heat concerns.
