At the 2016 London Marathon, Hawkins finished 14th overall, and was the third British-qualified athlete to finish, in a personal best time of two hours 12 minutes and 57 seconds. This time was inside the qualifying time of two hours 14 minutes needed for the 2016 Summer Olympics to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil but as he was outside of the top two British finishers he did not achieve automatic selection for the Great Britain team. He was later chosen as a selectors pick for the Games and will be joined in the men's marathon by fellow British athletes, Tsegai Tewelde and his brother Callum.