The London Marathon is one of the highlights of the running calendar and whether you’re keen to follow the elite race or track friends and family making their way around the London Marathon route, it’s a great event to watch live.
This year all eyes are on the women’s elite race, which features perhaps the most exciting field in marathon history. Last year’s winner Yalemzerf Yehualaw, world record holder Brigid Kosgei and Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir are running, while there's an intriguing debut at the distance from Olympic 5,000m and 10,000m champion Sifan Hassan. Unfortunately, Britain’s Eilish McColgan has withdrawn because of a knee issue.
The men’s race is only a little less loaded, with four of the five fastest marathoners in history lining up. The fastest of all, Eliud Kipchoge, ran the Boston Marathon six days before London, so we’ll let him off for not turning up.
Kenenisa Bekele and Kelvin Kiptum have both run sub-2hr 2min marathons, while Birhanu Legese and Mosinet Geremew have both gone under 2hr 3min. British interest will focus on two athletes at opposite ends of their marathon careers: Sir Mo Farah is running his last London Marathon, while Emile Cairess is making his London debut.
London Marathon Live Streams And TV Broadcasts
How To Watch The London Marathon In The UK
The BBC has been the broadcaster of the race since its first edition in 1981 and is offering extensive coverage of both the elite race and mass-participation event. Live coverage starts at 8.30am on BBC One and runs until 2.15pm, when it switches to BBC Two before finishing at 3pm. You can also watch the race online on iPlayer, with live streams running until 6pm. There are highlights from the race on BBC Two at 6pm.
If you’re tuning in to catch sight of someone you know, train your eyes on the live stream of the finish line, which last year was available via the red button and on iPlayer. Download the London Marathon tracker app to access predicted finish times for every runner, searchable by name or bib number.
How To Watch The London Marathon In The US, Canada And Australia
Live coverage of the London Marathon is available via FloTrack, with the broadcast starting at 4.10am ET. You can watch online and the FloTrack app, which is available on the App Store, Google Play, plus Roku and the Amazon Fire Stick. A FloTrack subscription costs USD$29.99 a month or USD$149.99 a year.
How To Watch The London Marathon From Outside Your Country Of Residence
If you’re abroad but still want to watch the London Marathon via your normal national broadcaster then you can use a virtual private network (VPN). The team of experts at Coach stablemate TechRadar test VPNs extensively and recommend ExpressVPN, which allows you to stream on several devices at once, and comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
London Marathon Details
When is the London Marathon 2023?
The London Marathon 2023 takes place on Sunday 23rd April.
What time does the London Marathon start?
The Elite wheelchair race begins at 9.14am BST, followed by the Elite women at 9.25am. The Elite men and mass race start at 10am.
Where is the London Marathon route?
The London Marathon route starts from Greenwich Park in south-east London and takes runners along the River Thames to cross at Tower Bridge. From there runners head east to run around Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs before coming back past Tower Bridge and on to the finish on The Mall near Buckingham Palace.
