Scot battles through blood and blisters to finish first Briton and seventh overall at the London Marathon.

Eilish McColgan wasn’t about to sugar coat her performance at the London Marathon on Sunday (April 26). On her second attempt at the distance, she finished as the first British athlete home in seventh place with a time of 2:24:51 that was 26 seconds outside her Scottish record of 2:24:25 from 12 months ago.

The 35-year-old cut a frustrated figure, however the fact that she stuck it out on the streets was impressive in itself when she revealed the painful issue that had hampered her progress.

“Not long after halfway, I had a really, really bad blister and it sounds strange saying it but the only way I can really describe it is that it felt like my foot exploded,” said the Commonwealth 10,000m champion, who had ran much of the second half entirely on her own. “It panicked me a little bit and from then on I was running funny – I couldn’t really put pressure on my foot so I began to hurt in other areas as well.”

McColgan had no explanation as to how or why it happened and was quick to point out that it wasn’t down to here ASICS shoes that she has raced in regularly already this year. 

“I got to 24 miles and my knee started playing up and almost went on me,” she added. “I was like: ‘I can’t get to 24 miles and not finish’. I don’t know why my foot decided to be indifferent today. I was covered in blood. I had to go and see the doctor after my race because I couldn’t put any pressure through my foot. I took my sock off and the skin just fell out.

“It’s just frustrating to run the same sort of time as I did last year on my debut. I don’t think that’s a fair reflection of my fitness. I just kept running, thinking : ‘Don’t let anyone past. Don’t let anyone past’.”

McColgan will now “need a little bit of time to heal” before turning her attention to the next goal, which is aiming to represent Scotland again at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July. And there will be more marathons in her future. 

She was left astonished by the performances of Sebastian Sawe and Yomif Kejelcha in the men’s race as they broke the two-hour marathon barrier. 

“I don’t know how they’ve run sub two because I don’t think London is a particularly fast course,” she says. “Honestly, it has blown my mind that they have been able to run that fast.”

Tigist Assefa also lowered the women’s-only mark to 2:15:41 in London, while the outright record remains Ruth Chepngetich’s 2:09:56 from 2024 – despite the Kenyan’s subsequent suspension for anti-doping violations. The second-fastest time ever recorded came earlier this year from the unheralded Ethiopian Fotyen Tesfay, who clocked 2:10:51 in March.

But with the two-hour barrier being broken on the men’s side, what might now be possible for the world’s fastest women?

“It just gets crazier and crazier,” added McColgan. “It’s hard to keep up now. We had 2:09 and at the time I thought: ‘That doesn’t make sense’ – and it wasn’t real. But then someone else comes along who you haven’t really heard of and runs 2:10 so to be honest I don’t know where that’s going to go. 

“I don’t know if we are going to start seeing women running 2:09 but all I can do is just keep focused on myself. I try not to get too caught up in it and I just want to try to improve every year. 

“This is one place higher than last year, but I know there’s 2:20 in me. I think it’s just a matter of time before that happens so I’d like to target a Berlin or a Chicago where there are groups of people and it’s renowned for being perfectly flat. We’ll give it a go. It’s still on my bucket list.”  

Rose Harvey, meanwhile, finished as the second British athlete, in ninth spot with 2:26:14, while Louise Small completed the home top three in 2:28:29 in 11th spot, with Jess Warner-Judd 12th in 2:29:28 on her second marathon. 

For Harvey, the performance meant a great deal after a knee cartilage problem that had made even being able to race over the marathon distance this spring seem like a remote possibility. 

“I was really happy to get through it and hopefully I’ve done enough to be selected for the European Championships [in Birmingham this summer],” said Harvey, whose marathon best is 2:23:21.

“I only came back from injury at the end of last year and only started running at all in January, so I thought a spring marathon was not going to happen but I really wanted to make London. I could only swim and I hate swimming! I’m so grateful to my team who helped me and believed in me.”