London Marathon 2021 results: who were the winners, what were their times, and how many runners were there?

Sunday 3 October saw the 41st Virgin Money London Marathon take place from Greenwich Green to The Mall.

An impressive 40,000 runners took to the streets of London with a further 40,000 runners participating in the event virtually.

The first set of runners to take off were the wheelchair races which started at 8.50am.

This year’s marathon had a staggered start time for the main wave between 9.30am and 11am in order to help social distancing measures.

Who won the men’s London Marathon 2021?

In a time of two hours four minutes and one second, Ethiopian athlete Sissy Lemma won the elite men’s race. His time was the sixth fastest in the all-time standings.

It is quite possible that Lemma missed out on an extra time bonus due to celebrating his win before crossing the line.

Basking in his first London Marathon win, the 30-year-old enjoyed the crowd’s applause and gave a regal wave, which cost  him valuable seconds.

This meant he did not finish the marathon in under two hours and four minutes and so  wasn’t  eligible for the extra time bonus of £18,500.

Kenya’s Vincent Kipchumba followed in second place with a time of 2:04:28 and Mosinet Geremew from Ethiopia took third place with 2:04:41.

Who won the women’s London Marathon 2021?

The elite women’s race was won by a surprise winner this year. Kenya’s Joceline Jepkosgei was the 2021 women’s champion and ran the marathon in two hours 17 minutes and 43 seconds.

This year’s women’s race was much closer than the men’s as second place Degitu Azimeraw from Ethiopia came in just 15 seconds behind Jepkosgei.

Third place was taken by fellow Ethiopian Ashete Bekere in 2:18:18.

Kenyan marathon runner Brigid Kosgei was this year’s expected winner, however after the halfway point she began to fade and dropped off the back of the women’s leaders.

Who won the wheelchair races?

Both wheelchair races were won this year by Swiss athletes Marcel Hug and Manuela Schär.

The pair set impressive records in their respective races and Hug dominated the course from mile 13, finishing with a time of one hour 26 minutes 27 seconds. Britain’s David Weir settled for third and finished in 1:31:34.

Weir is an eight-time winner of the marathon but said that Hug and Daniel Romanchuk who came second were in a “different universe”.

Manuela Schär won the women’s wheelchair race in a time of 1:39:52 having won the Berlin Marathon last week. She will hope to keep up her winning streak at the Boston Marathon on Monday 11 October.

Who won the Mini Marathon?

This year’s Mini Marathon was a shorter than usual race of 2.6Km from Temple Place to The Mall.

The under-17 women’s race was won by Jess Bailey while the under-15 girl’s race was won by Zoe Gilbody. The pair have raced against each other before, however as they were in separate age categories, they were both able to take home a gold medal.

The under 17 men’s title was won by Nick Griggs who is also the reigning European under-20 3000m gold medallist. Gianleo Stubbs was the under-15 boys winner.

In the wheelchair races, Illias Zghoundi and Chloe Lewis took their respective under-17 victories, while Oliver Porter and Yasmine Hodkinson won the under-14 events.

Which celebrities took part in the London Marathon?

Virgin Radio DJ Chris Evans was back for his seventh marathon and was joined by the entire Virgin Radio crew including Rachel Horne, Vassos Alexander and Dr Rangan Chatterjee.

Barbara Windsor’s husband, Scott Mitchell, took to the streets of London with his nephew and brother-in-law in memory of the late actress. They have so far raced more than £165,000 for Alzheimer’s Research UK and the donations have not stopped yet.

Olympic rower James Cracknell was also in the mix along with EastEnders star Tanya Franks.

Former The Only Way is Essex star Mark Wright pulled out of the marathon last minute due to sustaining an injury.

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