If you were hoping the 2026 ASICS Los Angeles Marathon pro field would be a quiet affair, bad news. Organizers have assembled 24 elite athletes for the 41st edition of the race, and the defending champions — American Matt Richtman and Ethiopia’s Tejinesh Tulu — are walking straight back into a fight.
The race goes on March 8. All 27,000 of you have been warned.
Richtman’s Historic Win Has a Target on Its Back
Last year, Richtman did something no American man had managed at LA in over three decades: he won. His winning time of 2:07:56 was the second fastest in the history of the course, and it made him one of the most talked-about U.S. distance runners overnight.
The guys who finished behind him are not happy about it.
Athanas Kioko of Kenya, who ran second in his marathon debut last year, is back for round two. So is 2024 champion Dominic Ngeno, also Kenyan, who owns the fastest personal best in the men’s field at 2:06:35 — nearly 90 seconds faster than Richtman’s winning time. That’s not a gap you ignore.
Rounding out the American interest on the men’s side is Elkanah Kibet, who finished fourth at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials in Orlando, a single spot away from Paris. He’ll be motivated.
The Women’s Race Might Steal the Show
Tulu is back after finishing fourth at the Houston Marathon in January — running a personal best 2:29:13 in the process. Last year’s second and third place finishers, Kenya’s Antonina Kwambai and American Savannah Berry, are also returning. Kwambai in particular has made a habit of finishing runner-up at this race — three times now (2021, 2022, 2025). At some point, she’s going to want that trophy.
But the women’s field this year has some genuinely fascinating stories running through it.
Vicoty Chepngeno of Kenya is the fastest woman on the start list, with a personal best of 2:19:55. Atsede Bayisa, who won Boston in 2016 and Chicago twice, is somehow still going strong at 38. And Priscah Cherono won The Marathon Project in Arizona last December — in 2:25:17 — at age 45.
Forty-five.
Then there’s Makenna Myler, who in 2020 ran a 5:25 mile while nine months pregnant. She’s now a mother of two, and just 10 months after her second child she ran a personal best 2:26:14 at the 2024 Olympic Trials to finish seventh. Kellyn Taylor — mother of four, winner of the Austin Marathon on February 15 in 2:33:29 — is the kind of runner who makes the rest of us rethink our excuses.
Race Day Details
The marathon happens to fall on International Women’s Day this year, which given that women’s field feels less like a coincidence and more like a flex.
The course starts at Dodger Stadium and winds through Downtown LA, Echo Park, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Brentwood before finishing on Santa Monica Boulevard at Avenue of the Stars in Century City — 26.2 miles of classic LA scenery, traffic excluded. If you’re running it yourself, now’s a good time to lock in your race strategy and target marathon pace. And if this is your first 26.2, we’ve got you covered there too.
Pro women and elite age group women start at 6:40 a.m. The pro men and full field go at 7:00 a.m.
