The iconic London Marathon is returning to the streets of the British capital for the 43rd time, with 50,000 runners, alongside some of the fastest men and women in the world, set to take on the 26.2-mile route from Greenwich to The Mall. Yet if you can't make it to London this Sunday (Sunday, April 23), we've found all of the ways you can watch the race, from wherever you are in the world.
The London Marathon live stream takes place Sunday (April 23).
► Time: 8:50 a.m. BST / 3:50 a.m. ET / 12:50 a.m. PT
• U.S. — Watch on FloSports
• U.K. — Watch on BBC Two, BBC One and BBC Red Button
• Watch anywhere — try ExpressVPN 100% risk free
The stage is set for a spectacular race in both the men's and women's fields. Unfortunately, two-time London Marathon champion and world record holder Brigid Kosgei pulled out of the race due to injury. Joyciline Jepkosgei is the favorite to win, and will line up against Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir on Sunday. Great Britain's Eilish McColgan, the reigning Commonwealth Games 10000m champion is also making her marathon debut in front of a home crowd.
In the men's race, Kenenisa Bekele, who ran the second-fastest marathon of all time in Berlin in 2019 is headlining the race, but he has tough competition. Sisay Lemma is defending his London Marathon title, alongside Tokyo Marathon winner Birhanu Legese. Great Britain's Sir Mo Farah will also be running, and has announced it'll be his last marathon.
If you're looking out for a runner in the mass-participation race, you can expect to see them once the race kicks off at 9.40 am BST. Similar to last year, the start of the mass-participation race will be staggered between 9.40 and 11.00 am BST. The easiest way to keep an eye on how your runner is doing is to track them — here's how to track runners at the London Marathon.
London Marathon start times and schedule
The timeline for the day is as follows:
Elite wheelchair race: 8:50 a.m. BST / 3:50 a.m. ET / 12:50 a.m. PT
Elite women start: 9:00 a.m. BST / 4:00 a.m. ET / 1:00 a.m. PT
Elite men and mass-participation start: 9:40 a.m. BST / 4:40 a.m. ET/ 1:40 a.m. PT
How to watch the London Marathon live stream wherever you are
The London Marathon coverage will be on the BBC for most of the day in the UK, but if you're not in the UK, there are still ways to watch a friend or family member take on the race (although you might need to set your alarm clock a little earlier than usual for a Sunday!)
The answer is to use a VPN, or virtual private network. A VPN will let you tune into your home coverage from wherever you are — meaning that if you're abroad, you can use one of the best VPN services to watch the games live as if you were in your lounge.
Our favorite right now is ExpressVPN, thanks to its combination of superb speed, great customer service and excellent device support. It also offers a no-questions-asked 30-day money-back guarantee, so you could check it out without having to sign up long term.
Using a VPN is incredibly simple.
1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we've said, ExpressVPN is our favorite.
2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance if you're in the U.K. and want to view a U.S. service, you'd select U.S. from the list.
3. Sit back and enjoy the race. Head to BBC Sport to stream the marathon.
How to watch the London Marathon in the UK
If you're in the UK, coverage of the London Marathon will start at 8.00 am BST. From 8.00 am - 10.00 am BST, you'll need to head to BBC Two to catch all the action. Then, coverage will move to BBC One from 10.00 am - 2.30 pm BST. From 2:30 pm – 4 pm BST you can watch coverage on the BBC Red Button.
At 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm BST highlights from the men's and women's elite races, as well as the mass-participation races will be shown on BBC Two.
All of this coverage is completely free.
All sounds great, right? But if you're not in the U.K., you can still follow the London Marathon live coverage by using one of the best VPN services, such as ExpressVPN.
How to watch the London Marathon live stream in the US and Canada
If you're keen to get up early and watch the London Marathon from the US, the easiest way to do so is to watch the live coverage on FloTrack.
To watch the race, you'll need to be a subscriber, which is $29.99 per month, or $149.88 per year (which works out to $12.49 per month). You can cancel your subscription anytime, so you can sign-up now to watch the race and then cancel at the end of the month (FloTrack are also streaming the Boston Marathon on October 11 and the Chicago Marathon on October 10, so you'll get good value out of your subscription).
