London Marathon 2026 F40-44: Clement surges to the front when it matters most

• Andrea Clement won the F40-44 age group in 2:32:11 (5:48/mi), posting the 3rd-fastest first-half split among all women in the race on her way to the title.
• Emma Suchy led the women's field outright through 20K with the fastest women's split on the 5K–10K segment, but faded from 1st among women to 19th in the closing stages — a dramatic reversal.
• Yuebin Son clawed back ground late, running the 2nd-fastest women's split on the 40K–Finish stretch to secure 2nd in F40-44 in 2:38:27.
• Rebecca Bunting was the day's quiet mover, climbing steadily from 42nd to 25th among women to finish 4th in 2:41:53.

Andrea Clement's race was a masterclass in patience and progression. She entered the first half already flying — 8th among women at 5K, climbing to 4th by halfway — and her 3rd-fastest women's split over that opening 13.1 miles set the platform. She briefly slipped to 3rd among women near the 30K mark before reasserting herself, crossing the line in 2:32:11 to claim the F40-44 title by more than six minutes over runner-up Yuebin Son.

The most dramatic arc of the day belonged to Emma Suchy. She was fastest among all women on the 5K–10K segment and held the outright women's lead all the way through 30K — a sustained, gutsy front-running effort in cool but breezy 56°F conditions. The 14 mph wind off London's streets eventually took its toll; Suchy dropped from 1st among women to 9th by 40K and finished 19th, settling for 3rd in F40-44 in 2:40:11. It was a bold race that simply ran out of road.

Yuebin Son told a different story entirely. Fluctuating between 9th and 19th among women through the middle miles, she looked like a mid-pack finisher — until the final 2.2K, where she unleashed the 2nd-fastest women's closing split in the field to surge home in 2:38:27. Behind her, Gabriel Carnwath (5th, 2:43:58) and Nicole Green (6th, 2:45:47) rounded out a competitive top six, while Johanna O'Regan and Penny Canwell finished 12th and 13th in 2:51:54 and 2:51:57 respectively — separated by just three seconds across 26.2 miles.