After finishing his 45th London Marathon, Steve Smythe looks at some of the facts and figures behind a momentous day in the British capital.

Sunday's 46th London Marathon proved beyond any doubt that London hosts the greatest marathon in the world.

The organisation, the course, the world record number of finishers, the greatest elite fields, the crowds, the infrastructure and television coverage were backed up by stunning races and world records.

Sabastian Sawe produced one of the most memorable performances in athletics history by breaking a two-hour barrier that many thought impossible a few years ago.

Yes, the world's greatest ever marathoner Eliud Kipchoge achieved it in non-racing conditions in 2019 thanks to arrow formation pace making etc, but no one really thought it would be achieved in normal racing conditions at London.

Sawe is an amazing talent but it's hard to get your head around the fact he would have left former world record setters such as Paul Tergat and Haile Gebrselassie over a mile in arrears.

Considering that pair are still third and fourth all-time at 10,000m from their times in 1997 and 1998 respectively they rank just 125th and 43rd from their much later world marathon records from 2003 and 2008.

I think that illustrates that the super shoes have more effect in the marathon but also the financial rewards are attracting the better athletes to the road.

In the London race itself 10,000m world record-holder Joshua Cheptegei was only 12th in 2:06:39 and so he was seven minutes down on Sawe.

The reason many were extra surprised at the time is that although London has seen many records over the years it has 20 small climbs, is quite twisty and the likes of Valencia, Berlin and Chicago are thought to be quicker.

London is slightly downhill overall and overall is point to point but not enough on both cases to eliminate it from record breaking.

The temperature while too warm for most of the masses was fine if you could finish by 11.30am and very unusually there was an easterly wind so there was far more tailwind than normal.

The pacemaking was perfect but the reason for the record was the astonishing finishing pace of Sawe, pushed by Yomif Kelelcha. Some splits included...

10km: 28:35

20km: 57:21 (28:46)

30km: 86:03 (28:42)

40km 1:53:39 (27:36)

A 27:36 10km from 30km was followed by 5:51 for the last 2195m which is 26:40 10km pace!

Sawe's first race in the statistical database is a 3:51.01 1500m in Kampala aged 22 in 2018 and then the following year (now aged 24) he finished seventh in the Kenyan 5000m championships in 13:42.28.

There was no sign he was going to be a world beater until 2022 when he won at half-marathons in Seville (59:02), Ostia (58:02) and Manama (58:58) but was only sixth in Valencia in 59:23 in a race won by Kibiwott Kandie (58:10) ahead of Kejelcha (58:32).

That year Sawe also ran 26:54 in a road 10km, 27:09.46 in a track 10,000m in Maia and ran world bests at 20km (56:20.55) and one hour (21250m) on the track.

In 2023 he finished seventh in the World Cross Country Championships at Bathurst and improved his 10km road best to 26:49 and had half-marathon wins in Berlin (59:00) and the World Championships in Riga (59:10). However in Valencia, despite running 58:29 he was a well-beaten fifth again behind Kandie (57:40) and Kejelcha (57:41).

In 2024 he won the Kenyan cross-country championships and was again seventh in the World Championships.

He had big half marathon wins in Prague (58:24) and Copenhagen (58:05) but the most notable performance was a world-leading 2:02:05 marathon winning debut in Valencia.

In 2025 all focus was on the marathon and he produced world leads at both London (2:02:27) and Berlin (2:02:16).

In London he made it four wins in four marathons.

Despite the ground breaking performance he should go faster on a quicker course but don't expect the floodgates to be opened up at sub-two in the same way Roger Bannister led the way to a number of sub-fours on the track.

Kejelcha has run 3:47.01 for an indoor mile and 12:38.95 for 5000m and 57:30 for a half marathon - the latter time Sawe could probably beat judging by his 59:02 second half.

The only other sub-two on the horizon is third-placed and now third all-time Jacob Kiplimo, who ran 2:00:28 which is less impressive than his 56:42 world half- marathon record!

There was another world record at London but a rather less celebrated one!

Tigist Assefa looked superb in the last 400 metres but her 2:15:41 clocking was mildly disappointing considering the 31:03 opening 10km and 66:12 halfway time.

The 10km between 30km and 40km was a modest 33:06 and even the last 2195m was nothing special at 7:14 as the fast early pace might have taken its toll.

With her best in a mixed race being 2:11:53 and a world record (albeit dubious) at 2:09:56, the world women's-only race should be much faster than 2:15.

Remember Paula Radcliffe ran 2:15:25 without super shoes 23 years ago with male assistance but would have probably ran not far short on that on her own!

Of course all finishers can claim a share in a world record as 59,830 narrowly surpassed New York for the most marathon finishers in history.

Running half the speed of Sawe but marvelling at the crowds and great organisation, I squeezed inside four hours on my 45th London Marathon (43rd on the trot) which makes me an "ever-present minus one".

The proper ever-presents were as usual led home by Chris Finill (3:15:16) with Michael Peace (4:51:37), Bill O'Connor (8:39:55) and Jeffrey Aston (8:45:26) also completing their 46th London.

However, Malcolm Speake had to drop out at seven miles and David Walker, who was running a virtual marathon, appears to have pulled out before 30km according to the official results so it looks like just four ever-presents remain as we look forward to a possible 'double' marathon in 2027.