Emile Cairess will not be short of motivation when he toes the startline of the TCS London Marathon in three months’ time.

Firstly, the Yorkshire Olympian is eager to make up for lost time having been robbed of the chance to run the great London event last year because of injury.

Secondly, the 28-year-old from Bradford is keen to prove his performance in finishing a surprise fourth in the Olympics in Paris the year before was no flash in the pan.

And finally, in a goal he will share with each of the 22 British runners that come to the startline for the elite men’s race on Sunday, April 26, he has Sir Mo Farah’s British record in his sights.

Remember me: Emile Cairess steps onto the podium after finishing third and setting a personal best at the 2024 TCS London Marathon. He returns there this April looking to go faster. (Picture: Alex Davidson/Getty Images)

placeholder image — Remember me: Emile Cairess steps onto the podium after finishing third and setting a personal best at the 2024 TCS London Marathon. He returns there this April looking to go faster. (Picture: Alex Davidson/Getty Images)

Not many of those will have as good a chance as Cairess of breaking it, however. Had an ankle tendon not disrupted two months of training this time last year, he might have got it last April.

But as it is, Farah’s British best of 2:05:11 and London Marathon-best of 2:05:39 are firmly within the sightline of Cairess on his return to the capital.

“I’m looking to run as fast as I can and get below that British record,” said Cairess, whose own personal mark is 2:06:46, now the third fastest time ever run by a Briton.

“Sir Mo is the greatest ever British endurance athlete and, of course, I am aware of his marathon records, but my primary focus is on being competitive in the world’s best marathons.

Under the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, Emile Cairess of Team Great Britain on his way to a fourth-place finish in the Paris Olympic Marathon (Picture: Maja Hitij/Getty Images)

“To do that in a race like the TCS London Marathon, I know that I need to run faster than I have done before It is difficult when you miss a big event like London and have to wait a year for it to come around again.”

That personal best by Cairess was achieved in the London Marathon of 2024 in only his second attempt at the fabled distance. His third came at the Paris Olympics where he placed fourth.

But he was unable to build on it in 2025, a bout of tonsillitis whilst on a training camp in Kenya led to his tendons getting de-loaded and when he stepped up the running he aggravated the problem, wiping out two months of training.

Even by September, the Leeds City Athletics Club product wasn’t at his peak and couldn’t finish the World Championship marathon in the oppressive heat of Tokyo.

But he has learned some valuable lessons from a frustrating year.

“I’m an athlete that wants to be the best that I can be,” he said from his training camp in Kenya.

“I don’t just want to be someone who turns up to run around and take part, so I’ll always try to be in the best shape I can be.

“In Tokyo my preparation was a lot shorter than I’d have liked it to be, whereas the other marathons I’ve prepared well and they’ve gone well, so that’s the No 1 thing. My aim is to always prepare as well as possible.

“I was in that kind of shape around the Olympics in 2024.

"I’ve done a lot of training since then, a lot of mileage, I’ve improved a lot but I’ve just been a bit unlucky in the way that I’ve not been able to show it.

“So this past year I’ve just focused on improving, what can I do every day to get better?

“Even going back to running in my teenage years, I never gave up or got down on myself too much, even after bad years. When you have good years, like I did in 2024, people just naturally expect things will just keep on progressing. But it doesn’t always work like that.”

The strong performances started to return towards the end of last year. He was a pacemaker for his long-time training partner and former Leeds doctor, Phil Sesemann, and Olympic triathlon champion Alex Yee at the Valencia Marathon, the latter benefitting so much he dipped under Cairess’ pb to move second behind Farah.

Once Cairess had done his job for his team-mates, he dropped out of the race: “I wasn’t tempted to finish, it might have been a small PB but it wouldn’t have been reflective of where I’m at,” he said in a message that says a lot about his mindset going into the London Marathon.

“That’s what 2026 is about for me, showing everyone all the hard work I’ve put in. It always pays off in the end, just not necessarily in the order you’d like.”

Cairess will be joined in the London Marathon by Sesemann and North Yorkshire’s former Olympian over 10,000m, Marc Scott.

Other entries include Eilish McColgan, who set a new European 10K record (30:07) in Valencia earlier this month, plus Patrick Dever and Jess Warner-Judd who will both race in London for the first time following impressive debuts over the distance at last autumn’s New York Marathon.

Sheffield Olympian Calli Hauger-Thackery will not be there, though, despite blistering form which has seen her win marathons in Honolulu and Houston over the past two months.

The 33-year-old has opted to run the Boston Marathon the week before London.