Eilish McColgan Wins the London 10,000 for a Record Fourth Time

Eilish McColgan became the first woman to win the London 10,000 four times on Sunday, clocking 31:50 only two weeks after she had to stop partway through the Great North Run with a badly torn-up foot.

That fourth title takes her clear of Jo Pavey, who won in 2011, 2015 and 2017 and had shared the record with McColgan since last September. The Scot first won in 2022, when she set the course record of 30:23, and came back to win again in 2024 (31:36) and 2025 (30:35). Jess Warner-Judd was second on Sunday in 33:13, and Kate Estlea-Morris took third in 33:58.

“I can see from my time today that my fitness isn’t quite where I’d like it to be. It’s no secret I’ve had some issues since April, so I am just happy to be back racing,” McColgan said after the race. “The goal today was to try and win but to come away with my fourth title here is really special.”

On Jan. 11 in Valencia, she opened her year by running 30:08 to take back the European 10K record, only a week after Belgium’s Jana Van Lent had lowered it to 30:10 in Nice. Three months later at the London Marathon she finished seventh in 2:24:51 as the first British woman home, despite a blister past halfway that she said made it feel like her foot had exploded. Running awkwardly on it, she broke a toe, and the injury kept her out of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where she was the defending 10,000m champion.

With only four weeks of training behind her, McColgan won the Big Half on Sept. 6 in 1:10:54, her fourth win there, finishing 1:19 ahead of Warner-Judd. A week later the blister trouble came back early in the Great North Run, and she stepped off the course for what she called the first DNF of her road career. “Bottom of my foot is ripped off,” she wrote afterward.

Warner-Judd has been her regular rival through all of it, and McColgan pointed out that the two of them are in very different places. “We’ve had some great races over the years, and Jess is just preparing for a marathon so is in a completely different phase,” she said. “I am coming in with less fitness and she’s coming in with too much fitness, but for the marathon.” Warner-Judd, whose best is 2:24:45 from New York last year, is in the Chicago Marathon field on Oct. 11.

Kadar Omar Abdullahi took his first London 10,000 title in the men’s race, finishing in 29:20 and 19 seconds up on Phil Sesemann (29:39), with Freddy Richardson of Colchester & Tendring AC third in 29:53. Abdullahi also won the Big Half three weeks ago, making it the same London double McColgan pulled off this month. “I have confidence in myself. I won the Big Half and now the fitness is there, but it was big pressure performing twice,” he said.

McColgan, who turns 36 in November, is skipping the usual end-of-season break. “I’ve got a very short four days of rest now then reset and maybe do some smaller runs in the winter,” she said, and after that comes a long block of training aimed at the marathon. She told Women’s Running last week that she has “unfinished business” with the distance and believes “there’s a sub 2.20 within me,” with the 2028 Olympic marathon in Los Angeles as the target for what would be her fifth Games. Asked about coming back to London next September for a fifth 10,000 title, she said she could not turn it down.