Top-15 finish for Alex Yee in debut TCS London Marathon

Olympian Alex Yee put in a blistering performance on a scorching day in central London to claim a top-15 finish in his first full marathon.

Lining up in the elite men’s category at this year’s TCS London Marathon, Yee had previously said the race holds a special place in his heart and today wasn’t just about seeing what time was possible.

““I don’t really feel I have moved my running on over the last few years and 2025 is the year to do it,” Yee told 220’s Tim Heming, explaining his reasoning. “Having a run focus opened up the chance of running a marathon, and London is a special place for me. It’s a place that gave me so much as a child.”

“London Marathon Day, especially, was such a big part of my life growing up, I have great memories of racing the mini-marathon for Lewisham and seeing the city come alive around the race. So it was a no-brainer.”

Fast from the start

The 2025 TCS London Marathon saw Yee toe the start line alongside marathon-running greats including Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge, the first runner to achieve a sub-2 hour marathon finish time in 2019, as well as fellow Kenyan and defending champion Alexander Munyao.

Ethiopia’s Olympic champion Tamirat Tola was also present. For Great Britain, Yee was joined by Mahamed Mahamed and Philip Sesemann.

Following the start, Yee joined the second pack of runners alongside Sesemann and passed the 5km mark in 20th position in a time of 00:15:12. Hitting splits like clockwork, he passed 10km 00:30:33 and at the half-marathon point was in 22nd place with a split of 01:04:19.

Moving up the field

From that point, Yee began to pick off the field, moving to 16th place by the 35km mark (01:47:49). Heading to the finish with that familiar determined look on his face, Yee took 14th place to finish in a time of 02:11:08 before dropping to the ground to recover.

Yee consistently hit each kilometre in 3 minute splits between 03:01 and 03:15.

The men’s elite race was won by Kenyan Sebastian Sawe in 02:02:27.

Read more: how to run your first marathon.

Lead image: Getty Images