Women's London Marathon 2026: Hart surges to the front and holds on

• Lisa Hart wins in 2:30:16 (5:44/mi), posting the 2nd-fastest women's split on the First Half and climbing from 5th to 1st by 30K — then defending it to the line.
• Chelsea Baker's late charge: the fastest women's sprint from 40K to the finish lifted her from 3rd to 2nd, closing in 2:31:50 — 1:34 behind Hart.
• Andrea Clement ran a similar tactical arc, holding 3rd at 2:32:11 with the 3rd-fastest women's First Half split — just 21 seconds separating 2nd and 3rd at the tape.
• Rebecca Weston was the other big mover, advancing from 14th to 5th (2:34:42) with the 4th-fastest women's 40K-to-finish split — a strong late surge through a field of 26,115 women.

The women's race at London 2026 had a clear turning point around the halfway mark. Lisa Hart had been running in 5th through 15K and was still there at 20K, but by 30K she had carved her way to 2nd — and at 35K she was at the front. From there, running at 5:44/mi average, she did not yield. Her 2:30:16 was built on an aggressive First Half (2nd-fastest women's split on that stretch), and she had enough left to repel everyone who came for her.

Andrea Clement looked like the woman to beat through the middle miles. She had moved from 8th to 4th by 20K and into 2nd by 30K, holding that position through 35K. But the final kilometres belonged to Chelsea Baker, who had been quietly climbing all race — from 8th at the start to 4th by 30K — and then unleashed the fastest women's finish split from 40K to the line. Baker's 2:31:50 was enough to pip Clement (2:32:11) for the runner-up spot: Baker caught up and edged ahead in those final kilometres, with Clement holding 3rd.

Holly Archer (4th, 2:33:44) and Brogan Wallace (6th, 2:35:01) rounded out a competitive top six, with Katrina Ballantyne (7th, 2:35:32) and Charlie Arnell (8th, 2:35:42) separated by just ten seconds. Becky Briggs and Sarah Holt finished 11th and 12th in 2:37:44 and 2:37:46 respectively — two seconds the margin between them after 26.2 miles through London's streets on a cool, breezy April morning.