Everything you need to know about this weekends big event including leading athletes and details of how to watch and follow

If Tigist Assefa, Peres Jepchirchir, Brigid Kosgei, Ruth Chepngetich and Yalemzerf Yehualaw bring their A-game, the TCS London Marathon on Sunday (April 21) could see the greatest womens race in history.

Assefa of Ethiopia ran a world record of 2:11:53 at the BMW Berlin Marathon last September, beating the previous best mark of 2:14:04 set by Kosgei of Kenya in 2019.

The two women meet this weekend in London, in addition to Olympic champion Jepchirchir of Kenya, the 2:14:18 runner Chepngetich of Kenya and 2022 London winner Yehualaw of Ethiopia.

Add to this Tigist Ketema, an Ethiopian who ran the worlds fastest debut marathon with 2:16:07 in Dubai last year, together with 2:17 runners Megertu Alemu of Ethiopia and Joyciline Jepkosgei and Sheila Chepkirui of Kenya and the line-up is amazingly strong.

One of their targets is the womens-only world record which has stood for seven years since Mary Keitany ran 2:17:01 at the 2017 London Marathon.

Certainly, the 2024 race has a lot to live up to after the brilliant event 12 months ago. On that occasion Sifan Hassan won a dramatic womens race after stopping briefly and seemingly struggling in the early stages, whereas Kelvin Kiptum powered home to win the mens race by almost three minutes in a course record of 2:01:25.

Tragically Kiptum died in a car accident earlier this year aged just 24. The world record-holder was due to run Rotterdam last weekend, too, which means this weekend the mens field is led by reigning TCS New York City Marathon champion Tamirat Tola.

In addition, a number of 2:03 runners are entered such as Alexander Mutiso Munyao of Kenya, Dawit Wolde and Kinde Atanaw of Ethiopia, together with 2:04 runners Leul Gebresilase and Seifu Tura of Ethiopia and Daniel Do Nascimento of Brazil.

Also racing is distance running legend Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia, who set a world masters record at the 2023 Valencia Marathon with 2:04:19 aged 41.

Hot on their heels, Brits such as Emile Cairess and Marc Scott will be aiming to impress selectors one day before the Olympic team for Paris is picked.

Cairess is hoping to build on his 2:08:07 debut in London 12 months ago and has been in fine form going into a race where he hopes to cement his Olympic selection.

The Leeds runner probably would have been picked in the first wave of GB selections in February alongside his training partner Phil Sesemann, plus Charlotte Purdue and Calli Hauger-Thackery, if it wasnt for the fact the selection criteria did not allow athletes to be pre-selected in that first wave if they were planning to do a spring marathon.

Scott has enjoyed a brilliant career on the track and over the roads up to the half-marathon distance winning the Great North Run in 2021, for example and he is making his marathon debut on Sunday. Similarly, Mahamed Mahamed is aiming to improve on the 2:08:40 he ran in Valencia in December just half a minute outside the Olympic qualifying standard.

Callum Hawkins hopes to return to the kind of form that saw him clock 2:08:14 at London in 2019 in addition to placing fourth in the World Championships twice.

Further Brits in the field include Weynay Ghebresilasie, Alexander Lepretre, Norman Shreeve and Alex Milne.

British women in this years race include Becky Briggs and Alice Wright, who both represented Britain in the marathon at the 2022 European Championships, plus Anya Culling and Rachel Hodgkinson while Mhairi Maclennan and Lucy Reid are among the debutantes.

David Weirs silver anniversary appearance

Last year Swiss star Marcel Hug shattered his own course record as he raced to a third consecutive mens wheelchair title in London just six days after winning the Boston Marathon.

Look out too for Daniel Romanchuk of the United States, plus Britains Johnboy Smith and David Weir, the latter of whom will be racing his 25th consecutive London Marathon after first appearing in the Mini London Marathon races a quarter of a century ago.

In the womens race Madison de Rozario of Australia will also defend her title. Last year she pipped three-time champion Manuela Schär of Switzerland by one second and the pair are due to meet again on Sunday along with Catherine Debrunner of Switzerland, Tatyana McFadden of the United States and Britains Eden Rainbow-Cooper, who enjoyed a breakthrough win in Boston earlier this week.

Thousands set to tackle the Mini London Marathon

Now in its third year of being a standalone event held on Saturday, the Mini London Marathon features line-ups every bit as strong as the recent national-level championships on the cross-country scene.

Far more runners are involved too with this years total estimated to be around 12,000 with the youngsters racing over either one mile or 2.6km. Uniquely, each competitor will earn 10 for their school courtesy of sponsor Tata Consultancy Services to spend on sports or IT equipment.

The former list of competitors of course reads like a whos who of British athletics (and triathlon) with Mo Farah, Keely Hodgkinson and David Weir among the participants. Last years races, meanwhile, saw victories from athletes such as Innes FitzGerald, James Dargan and Lyla Belshaw.

Belshaw is among those competing this year, too, along with Phoebe Gill, Sam Plummer, Jake Meyburgh, Gianleo Stubbs, Jorjia March and Olivia Forrest.

Past winners of the Mini London Marathon dating back to 1986 can be found here.

Timetable and TV details

Saturday April 20
TCS Mini London Marathon 9am

Sunday April 21
Elite wheelchair race 9:05am
Elite women 9:25am
Elite men 10:00am

BBC coverage April 21
BBC One 8:30am-2:00pm
BBC Two 2:00-3:00pm and highlights 6pm

There will be two live streams from Tower Bridge and the Finish Line on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport app (and these are available on demand if runners want to watch themselves post-race). Tower Bridge cam runs from 11:30am to 2:30pm and the finish line cam runs from 1:00pm to 6:00pm.

For international broadcasts of the race, see here.

You can follow the runners in the official TCS London Marathon app too.

Plus of course keep up to date with our race week interviews and news on the AW social media channels and website.

Look out for coverage in our next print magazine as well which is due out at the beginning of May.