Kenya's Joyciline Jepkosgei admits she would have loved to clock a personal best (PB) on her way to second place at Sunday's London Marathon.

The 2021 London Marathon champion says the race did not pan out according to her expectations.

"I am feeling so grateful that I have arrived safely at the finish line. At first, my target was to set a new PB but I am so grateful. Marathon is so different...things don't always go according to plan," Jepkosgei said.

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The former world marathon record holder clocked 2:18:43 in Sunday's race, which is close to two minutes slower than the time she set at last year's edition of the same competition in which she finished third (2:16:24).

Olympics silver medalist Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia clocked a women-only record of 2:15:50 to cut the tape as Olympic champion Sifan Hassan finished third in 2:18:59.

It was a race that had for half of it been a two-horse battle between Assefa and Jepkosgei, the two exchanging the lead severally after Hassan had faded away in the background.

However, the Ethiopian finally broke away in the last 8km, running a lone race to eventually claim victory.

Jepkosgei admits the humid weather of the day finally got the best of her.

"At the 35km mark, it was so humid and I started feeling the effects on my body. The body was not responding as well as it was when I started the race so I decided to control myself...preserve my energy so I could finish strong," the 2021 London Marathon champion explained.

The competition was Jepkosgei's third in 2025, following the National Cross Country Championships and the Barcelona Half Marathon in February and March, respectively.

She clocked 35:02 to finish fourth in Eldoret before timing 1:04:13 to triumph in Barcelona.