A lot of things exposed themselves this week. Injuries, hidden agendas, athletes. Long distance and short distance ones alike. But for each of them it’s different. Compete on the roads and your 9 races a year are your 9 lives- yours to use, or yours to lose. Whereas on the track, you have so many opportunities to race across the season that one little slip might just go unnoticed. Or it might not. Because whether it’s the 100m tape or the Boston Marathon finish line, you can never escape the eyes of the public.
1. Peres Jepchirchir and Emile Cairess- London Marathon’s latest withdrawals
With over a million applicants, the 2026 London Marathon is well on track to reclaim its status as the world’s biggest. Although in this year’s case, that would be no thanks to the elite field, which is currently on a downward spiral.
On Tuesday came the news of Peres Jepchirchir. 2025 World Marathon Champion, 2024 London Marathon champion and the fourth fastest woman in the field, out due to injury. Well, not exactly. After finishing second in the Valencia Marathon at the end of last year she picked up a stress fracture which kept her out of training until this January. The injury is fully healed, but the only thing Peres Jepchirchir hasn’t quite recovered from, is the delay. With London right round the corner, she simply decided she wasn’t ready.
When you add her withdrawal to Sifan Hassan‘s, formerly second fastest in the field and another former London champion, some of the line-up’s excitement does fade. What were 4 women with sub-2:17 personal bests, are now just 2. But life is all about looking on the bright side, and the shadow cast by these two withdrawals isn’t all-consuming. The women’s field still features 2 former London Marathon champions, including reigning champion Tigist Assefa, and the reigning New York City Marathon champion Hellen Obiri, who’ll be making her much-anticipated London debut. It’s not all about times. Above all, the London Marathon is a race. And one of those former champions, Joyciline Jekgosgei, finished ahead of Sifan Hassan in London last year. Personal bests don’t dictate podiums, so I think we should be fine.
Home favourite Emile Cairess is the latest to go
Two days later the news of Emile Cairess arrived, and this one really stung for the home crowd. And for him too, who after finishing third in the 2024 London Marathon, was then forced to sit out the 2025 race, and now 2026 as well, after an entirely different injury, much like Peres Jepchirchir, impacted his training progress. With a personal best of 2:06:45 set in 2024, these past 2 years he’d been searching for the right moment to target Mo Farah’s British record of 2:05:11, and London 2026 was the pinpoint. It takes just one second for you to no longer be in the shape of your life but it also takes just one second to move those pinpoints. Mo Farah’s record may live to experience its 9th year, but the last time a European won the London Marathon was in 2000. Every additional year it takes Emile Cairess to get there, will only make that fact more impressive.
It’s ironic. The strength of the 2026 London Marathon field was so overwhelming that two of its greatest stars had to pull out in fear that they just weren’t at the level to face it. It’s too powerful for its own good. But line-ups are meant to be self-destructive, and races are only meant to have one winner. With both reigning champions still on track to return, it looks like we’ll have quite the battle in our hands.
2. World Athletics lays down the law on Türkiye
When 11 athletes applied to switch their allegiance to Türkiye this January, many people were caught off guard. Of the list of athletes, not a single one held any connection to Türkiye as a member state. The only connection to be found, was by joining the not-so-subtle dots. These athletes included Brigid Kosgei, 2021 Olympic Marathon silver medallist, Favour Ofili, 200m Commonwealth silver medallist, and Wayne Pinnock, Olympic silver medallist in the long jump. Three athletes from three completely different backgrounds, but all with one thing in common: medals.
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Türkiye left without a single medal in athletics. The waiting period to compete for a new member state is 3 years since your last international competition. Which for those athletes was the 2025 World Athletics Championships. 3 years on from 2025 takes us to 2028, and what event is being held that year? None other than the LA Olympics. Timing has a way of making motives transparent.
What happened this week though was unprecedented. World Athletics rejected every single one of those 11 applications. Transfers of allegiance happen all the time, even to countries with which athletes don’t have any real connection. But in these cases, there’s danger, and not safety, in numbers. World Athletics accused the Türkiye government of enticing overseas athletes with lucrative contracts in the hope of boosting its success at future international competitions, rather than nurturing its own local talents. In the eyes of World Athletics, Türkiye was making a mockery of its rules, and that meant it was time to lay down the law.
Was this the right decision?
Which is good. A clear stance is needed in these cases to protect the integrity of the sport. World Athletics has used Türkiye to set an example, and we can likely not expect this to happen again any time soon. But what about the athletes? If the aim of this ruling was dissuasion, were their cases truly assessed? And individually so?
The case of Favour Ofili raises that particular question. Aged just 18, she qualified to compete for her home country Nigeria in the Tokyo Olympics, but with the federation failing to meet drug testing standards, she along with several other Nigerian athletes were barred from taking part. 3 years later in 2024 Favour Ofili finally made it to an Olympic start line, only not in the way she’d hoped. She’d qualified for both the 100m and 200m, but the Nigerian federation mistakenly not submitting her name for the 100m tore that plan in two.
Favour Ofili- an unintended victim?
Since September 2025, Favour Ofili has made her intention of switching allegiances clear, well before this group of applications. She had a history of being mistreated by her own federation, and while the choice of Türkiye may have been presented to her rather than sought out by her, a move of any sort is understandable. But for the meantime Favour Ofili’s exit strategy has been blocked, and while she’s fortunate to still only be 23 years old, to have such an uncertain future when it comes to international competition is not an easy place to be in for any athlete. The other 10 can still count on their home federations, but Favour Ofili’s seems to be counting against her.
World Athletics have made their point clear, and at the end of the day it’s the right one. Only when you paint with such a wide brush, some details inevitably get lost along the way.
3. Laredo 10k- the 4th European record of 2026
Valencia, Castellón and Laredo. Other than the fact that these are three different Spanish cities, what do they all have in common? The women’s European 10km road record. First it was Eilish McColgan in Valencia, lowering her own mark of 30:19 down to 30:08, then Megan Keith took a second off in Castellón, and now, Klara Lukan in Laredo.
The European 10km road record has not just changed hands, but countries too. And not just one second has been taken off, but 29. From Great Britain to Slovenia, and from 30:07 to 29:50. Klara Lukan has become the first European woman to ever break 30 minutes over 10km on the roads, winning the Laredo 10km by almost an entire minute, ahead of Germany’s Konstanze Klosterhalfen, who also lowered her own national record from 30:46 down to 30:37.
4 different record holders in 4 months, and no I’m not forgetting Jana Van Lent who ran 30:10 at the start of this year in Nice (as much as it ruins the Spanish symmetry). And it’s still only April. Those first few months spent chipping away at the 30 minute barrier, passing the axe the back and forth, created a weakness prime for exploit. All it took was a run like Klara Lukan’s. The ‘now she has it, now she doesn’t’ game was fun, but this new level just got a whole lot more serious.
4. Noah Lyles is back, but is Dina Asher Smith?
No pressure, is probably what coaches tell their athletes before they open their outdoor seasons. Because there quite literally isn’t. It’s April. Nothing was riding on this weekend’s performances. There were no championships, no leagues, no prize money to be won. What there is however is expectation. And the problem with that is, each athlete has their own, and so does each member of the public. That’s a million different sets of expectations you can’t possibly know, can’t possibly meet, and can’t possibly change.
All of this to say, some sprinters fared better than others this weekend, and Noah Lyles was one of them, running 19.91 for the win at the Tom Jones Memorial. His first outdoor 200m of the season, and his first sub-20 clocking. Job done, it’s that simple.
The Gabby Thomas breaking-11 saga continues
For Gabby Thomas though, it’s really not that simple. Not when it comes to trying to break 11 seconds in the 100m. After running a wind legal 11.00 last month and equalling her personal best for the third time in a row, this weekend at the Addis Ababa Grand Prix was meant to be her shot. Just like all the other 9 times, where she actually did dip under 11 seconds, just with an illegal tailwind. Only this time the problem wasn’t a tailwind, it was a headwind. A -4 headwind at that. Actual forces really were in action to stop Gabby Thomas running a legal sub-11, and that left her still with the win, but in 11.13.
This whole ‘Gabby Thomas trying to break 11 seconds’ has become quite the running joke, but whether you think it’s bad luck or just not meant to be, neither one of those has to do with her talent itself. Maybe the frustration that joke is laced with will be strong enough to do the job.
Dina Asher Smith’s controversial 200m opener
Now let’s talk about Dina Asher Smith. At the Tom Jones Memorial, she ran 23.03 to finish 6th in her 200m heat, 0.40 seconds behind her teammate Amy Hunt in 5th. The story goes, she had no business opening up her outdoor season that slowly. It’s true that there was a -2 headwind, but Mckenzie Long winning that same heat in 22.42 and Amy Hunt opening her season almost half a second quicker than last year, suggest the blame should maybe lie elsewhere. My only question is- what exactly does that blame come attached to?
First of all, I don’t disagree: the facts are the facts. This is Dina Asher-Smith’s slowest 200m season opener since 2017 when she ran 23.15. For the past 8 years she’s opened with a sub-23 clocking. But these are also facts. Last year, she opened with 22.96. In 2018, the year she won two European titles and her second fastest times ever over the 100m and 200m, she opened with 22.90. The number 23 may signify some metaphorical barrier when it comes to sprinting but the difference is still just 0.1 seconds. Whether we’re talking about 22.80 vs 22.90 or 22.90 vs 23.00. The point is Dina Asher Smith has a history of opening her season early, and not particularly quickly. Because in most cases the whole point of opening it early, is to build into it slowly.
Every athlete follows a different pattern when it comes to training and competing. Maybe it’s time we followed our own when it comes to judging, and save that for the Diamond League season.
5. Boston Marathon- a double title defence
If you limit yourself to the names, the results of the 2026 Boston Marathon might come across as lacking in excitement. After all, the winners are exactly the same as last year’s. Both John Korir and Sharon Lokedi successfully defended their Boston titles, and their paths couldn’t be more in sync if they tried. For each of them, this marks their third World Marathon Major title.
If you look at the times though, that’s when the results of the 2026 Boston Marathon really start to get interesting. Because every single member of the men’s podium ran faster than the previous course record of 2:03:02 set 15 years ago by Kenya’s Geoffrey Mutai. And leading the way was John Korir, who with a winning time of 2:01:52, took over a minute off that mark in a finish so strong no one else could possibly contend.
At 30km, John Korir made his move and never looked back. If he did, many people would argue he would find a big tailwind and downhill slope propelling him along, but that’s just Boston. It’s like the supershoe argument. John Korir’s time was impressive and unofficially the 5th fastest of all-time, but because of the course conditions, we can’t say it’s wholly representative of his capabilities. That minute he took off the course record is though. Same conditions, different talent. The only thing propelling John Korir past that 2:03:02 was himself. (And maybe the shoes to some extent).
Men’s Podium:
- John KORIR (KEN) 2:01:52
- Alphonce Felix SIMBU (TAN) 2:02:47
- Benson KIPRUTO (KEN) 2:02:50
Boston Marathon Women’s Race
When it comes to course records, that’s where the 2026 Boston winners fell slightly out of sync. Sharon Lokedi missed hers by a minute and a half, finishing in 2:18:51 compared to 2:17:22 the year before, but it wasn’t for want of trying. From 30km to the finish, each of Sharon Lokedi’s 5km splits was almost a minute faster than in 2025, including a 14:48 between 35 and 40km. And overall, Sharon Lokedi covered the second half of the marathon 4 minutes faster than the first half. A negative split. Winning two consecutive Boston Marathon titles is rare enough. To do so once in a course record and once with a negative split? Even more so.
Women’s Podium:
- Sharon LOKEDI (KEN) 2:18:51
- Loice CHEMNUNG (KEN) 2:19:35
- Mary NGUGI-COOPER (KEN) 2:20:07
Title number 3 in 2027?
John Korir and Sharon Lokedi’s 2025 Boston Marathon wins weren’t just titles to defend. They were titles to cement.
Major week ahead
5 different stories, 5 different athletes or federations laying it all out on the line for us to bear witness. Good or bad, people will always have something to say. I, will always have something to say. But while we may have finished on a high note, next weekend is the London Marathon. And next weekend is also the return of two different reigning champions, with two different sets of competitors to tackle. Want to know what that means? Thanks to Sharon Lokedi and John Korir, more eyeballs than ever.
Written by- Rosana Ercilla
