# 2003 London Marathon

The 2003 London Marathon was the 23rd running of the annual marathon race in London, United Kingdom, which took place on Sunday, 13 April. The elite men's race was won by Ethiopia's Gezahegne Abera in a time of 2:07:56 hours and the women's race was won by home athlete Paula Radcliffe in 2:15:25. Radcliffe's time was a marathon world record, improving on her own record by nearly two minutes.
In the wheelchair races, France's Joël Jeannot (1:32:02) and Italy's Francesca Porcellato (2:04:21) won the men's and women's divisions, respectively. Jeannot's winning time broke the previous course record by over three minutes.
A total of 111,000 people applied to enter the race (a record high): 45,629 had their applications accepted and 32,746 started the race. A total of 32,536 runners finished the race, including 7768 women.

## Results
### Men

| Position | Athlete | Nationality | Time |
| | Gezahegne Abera | Ethiopia | 2:07:56 |
| | Stefano Baldini | Italy | 2:07:56 |
| | Joseph Ngolepus | Kenya | 2:07:57 |
| 4 | Paul Tergat | Kenya | 2:07:59 |
| 5 | Samson Ramadhani | Tanzania | 2:08:01 |
| 6 | Abdelkader El Mouaziz | Morocco | 2:08:03 |
| 7 | Lee Bong-ju | South Korea | 2:08:10 |
| 8 | Hendrick Ramaala | South Africa | 2:08:58 |
| 9 | Ian Syster | South Africa | 2:09:18 |
| 10 | Francisco Javier Cortés | Spain | 2:10:39 |
| 11 | Joseph Kahugu | Kenya | 2:13:17 |
| 12 | David Makori | Kenya | 2:13:24 |
| 13 | Ambesse Tolosa | Ethiopia | 2:13:33 |
| 14 | Onesmus Kilonzo | Kenya | 2:13:56 |
| 15 | Sisay Bezabeh | Australia | 2:16:09 |
| 16 | Chris Cariss | United Kingdom | 2:17:57 |
| 17 | Andrew Letherby | Australia | 2:18:25 |
| 18 | Huw Lobb | United Kingdom | 2:18:30 |
| 19 | Olivier Guery | France | 2:18:56 |
| 20 | Darran Bilton | United Kingdom | 2:20:50 |
| — | Róbert Štefko | Slovakia | DNF |
| — | Mohamed El Hattab | Morocco | DNF |
| — | Raymond Kipkoech | Kenya | DNF |
| — | Kim Yi-yong | South Korea | DNF |
| — | Cathal Lombard | Ireland | DNF |
| — | Joseph Kariuki | Kenya | DNF |
| — | Paulo Catarino | Portugal | DNF |
| — | Eliud Kimaiyo | Kenya | DNF |
| — | Richard Gardiner | United Kingdom | DNF |

### Women

| Position | Athlete | Nationality | Time |
| | Paula Radcliffe | United Kingdom | 2:15:25 WR |
| | Catherine Ndereba | Kenya | 2:19:55 |
| | Deena Kastor | United States | 2:21:16 |
| 4 | Susan Chepkemei | Kenya | 2:23:12 |
| 5 | Lyudmila Petrova | Russia | 2:23:14 |
| 6 | Constantina Diță | Romania | 2:23:43 |
| 7 | Jeļena Prokopčuka | Latvia | 2:24:01 |
| 8 | Elfenesh Alemu | Ethiopia | 2:24:56 |
| 9 | Michaela Botezan | Romania | 2:25:32 |
| 10 | Derartu Tulu | Ethiopia | 2:26:33 |
| 11 | Larisa Zyuzko | Russia | 2:28:05 |
| 12 | Adriana Fernández | Mexico | 2:29:54 |
| 13 | Zinaida Semenova | Russia | 2:32:37 |
| 14 | Bruna Genovese | Italy | 2:32:58 |
| 15 | Rimma Pushkina | Russia | 2:38:00 |
| 16 | Michaela McCallum | United Kingdom | 2:41:57 |
| 17 | Karen Towler | United States | 2:43:00 |
| 18 | Alison Fletcher | United Kingdom | 2:45:10 |
| 19 | Jessica Petersson | Denmark | 2:46:10 |
| 20 | Margaret Angell | United States | 2:46:20 |
| — | Zola Pieterse | South Africa | DNF |

### Wheelchair men

| Position | Athlete | Nationality | Time |
| | Joël Jeannot | France | 1:32:02 |
| | David Weir | United Kingdom | 1:34:48 |
| | Denis Lemeunier | France | 1:34:50 |
| 4 | Charles Tolle | France | 1:41:17 |
| 5 | Tushar Patel | United Kingdom | 1:42:56 |
| 6 | Paul Nunnari | Australia | 1:43:07 |
| 7 | Kenny Herriot | United Kingdom | 1:45:01 |
| 8 | David Holding | United Kingdom | 1:46:20 |
| 9 | Kevin Papworth | United Kingdom | 1:46:49 |
| 10 | Ebbe Blichfeldt | Denmark | 1:52:40 |

### Wheelchair women

| Position | Athlete | Nationality | Time |
| | Francesca Porcellato | Italy | 2:04:21 |
| | Tanni Grey-Thompson | United Kingdom | 2:04:54 |
| | Paula Craig | United Kingdom | 2:06:54 |
| 4 | Rachel Potter | United Kingdom | 2:12:16 |
| 5 | Deborah Brennan | United Kingdom | 2:17:32 |