A Yorkshire man is aiming for Mo Farah’s national marathon mark of 2:05:11 in London this year – but insists he has bigger goals in mind.
Emile Cairess is very natural about one of the goals he will have in mind when he takes the start line of the London Marathon again on April 26. The 28-year-old plans to chip away at a good chunk of his personal best of 2:06:46 by beating Mo Farah’s British record of 2:05:11, set in Chicago in 2018, and doing so overtake the record for the fastest time by a Brit in the London race. Marathon course (Farah’s 2:05:39 2019).
But Cairess wants more than that. He is delighted that British standards are rising and that this year’s national battle in his country’s premier marathon includes four athletes who have run under 2:07, as well as New York’s fourth-place finisher, Patrick Dever.
However, the man who finished third in London two years ago has broader horizons than being crowned marathon king of his own country. He plans to establish himself as a contender on the world marathon stage.
It looked like he was doing just that in 2024, after his podium in London and fourth place at the Paris Olympics. However, an ankle tendon injury caused him to miss a vital part of last year’s training and his only marathon outing of 2025 came in the intense heat and humidity of the world championships in Tokyo, where he failed to finish.
Illness may have prevented him from joining the record-breaking spectacle at the recent Valencia 10km, but Cairess insists he is back and better than ever. His strength was underlined when he acted as pacemaker for Alex Yee with a time of 2:06:37 in Valencia. Marathon in December, a mark that meant the Olympic triathlon champion leapfrogged him into second place in the all-time British marathon rankings.
If Cairess has his way, those rankings will soon need a shake-up, and the Yorkshireman betrayed his ambition by explaining why he decided not to run the full marathon distance in Spain.
“I was the pacer of the 2:06 group, so my first job was to get to 30km at the pace they asked me to do,” he said in a media call to announce his return to London in the spring. “Once I reached 30 km, my mind was more focused [my friend] edge [Sesemann] and trying to make sure I did the best for him to have a good career.
“I wasn’t tempted to finish at all, because let’s say I finished and gained a little bit, it would have been just a small PB, and that doesn’t reflect where I am. If I had seen my name in the results and it said 2:06, and two minutes behind an athlete like Amanal Petros (second in 2:04:03) or [Norway’s Awet Nftalem Kibrab, third in 2:04:24] I would have been disappointed. “I definitely wasn’t tempted to finish.”
When asked about the standards of British marathon racing, Cairess added: “It’s good to see that we are reaching a much better level than perhaps five or six years ago. We now have four athletes under 2:08 and, although Paddy [Dever] He hasn’t run as fast as a time, he’s just done a [marathon] And it was a really good race in New York, which definitely paid off a lot quicker. I guess the faster the Brits run, the better for everyone.
“But when it comes to competition, I always keep my eyes forward and try to compete with the best Kenyans and Ethiopians. That’s what I’m looking at. I’m not really focused on being the best of the British and I think that kind of mentality leads to performances on a larger scale. That’s where I’m at.”
Doing so would mean closing a considerable gap. The men’s race in London last year was won by Kenyan Sabastian Sawe in 2:02:27, for example, and African dominance continues when it comes to the marathon scene. However, Cairess believes there has been a notable change in mentality among European hopefuls.
“[Uganda’s Jacob] Kiplimo actually broke the half marathon record and [Kenya’s Kelvin] Kiptum really pushed the marathon, but it was more that the Europeans maybe didn’t believe in themselves as much and then maybe they didn’t put as much into training, like they’re doing now, because I think it only takes one or two athletes to see that things are possible and change people’s minds.
“It snowballs in terms of the more athletes who do well, the more confidence there is. My coach also talks about athletes from the ’80s and how we already had athletes like Seb Coe running 3:29 for 1500m and a lot of guys were running 27:30. [for 10,000m] in the past. “I think maybe we just stopped training hard and really believed in ourselves, and I think people are back to that now.”
Cairess also has ambitions on the track this summer. He is planning to join world bronze medalist and European 10km and half marathon record holder Andreas Almgren in preparing for the 10,000m Commonwealth and European Championships. All of this will come after London, where he hopes that all his training work will bear fruit.
“I feel like I’m in [British marathon record] I’m in good shape for the 2024 Olympics and I’ve trained a lot since then. I have improved a lot, I have been a bit unlucky in not being able to show it. I’m looking to run as fast as I can and hope to beat the British record.
“When you have a good year like 2024, people naturally expect things to continue progressing, but it doesn’t always work out that way. It’s part and parcel of being an athlete and I think if you can’t deal with setbacks, you usually don’t reach a good level.”
2026 TCS London Marathon: British men’s entry list
(Personal records in parentheses)
Emile Cairess (2:06:46)
Mahamed Mahamed (2:07:05)
Philip Sesemann (2:07:10)
Patricio Dever (2:08:58)
Weynay Ghebresilasie (2:09:50)
Tewelde Menges (2:09:58)
George James (2:10:10)
Jake Smith (2:11:00)
Marc Scott (2:11:19)
Jack Rowe (2:12:31)
Andrés Fyfe (2:13:20)
Alex Milne (2:14:03)
Peter Le Grice (2:14:45)
Sean Hogan (2:14:51)
Christopher Thomas (2:14:55)
Jake Barraclough (2:14:55)
Chris Perry (2:14:57)
David Obispo (2:15:16)
Charlie Sandison (2:15:38)
William Mycroft (2:15:54)
Alfie Manthorpe (Debut)
