Warner-Judd's Marathon Debut

Jess Warner-Judd is set to make her London Marathon debut on Sunday, April 26, less than two years after a mid-race seizure led to an epilepsy diagnosis. (bbc.com) The 31-year-old British runner told BBC Sport she feared in 2024 that she might never race again after collapsing during the European Championships 10,000 meters final in Rome. She had also suffered an earlier seizure in a 10,000-meter race in California before doctors identified epilepsy. (bbc.com) Warner-Judd built her career upward from 800 meters to the 5,000 and 10,000, and London will be her first marathon over 26.2 miles. London Marathon Events listed her alongside Patrick Dever as a British debutant in the 2026 elite field. (bbc.com) (londonmarathonevents.co.uk) The timing puts her story inside one of the sport’s biggest spring races. The 2026 TCS London Marathon is the 46th edition and starts Sunday, April 26, with elite wheelchair races at 8:50 a.m. British Summer Time, the elite women at 9:05 a.m., and the elite men at 9:35 a.m. (espn.co.uk) This year’s elite fields also bring back all four reigning champions: Sebastian Sawe, Tigst Assefa, Marcel Hug and Catherine Debrunner. London Marathon Events said the British field includes Emile Cairess, Eilish McColgan, Warner-Judd and Dever. (run247.com) (londonmarathonevents.co.uk) The race is also a city-scale event with more than 50,000 participants expected on the course from Greenwich to The Mall. Organizers have warned residents about road closures, parking suspensions and footpath restrictions along the route on Sunday. (londonmarathonevents.co.uk 1) (londonmarathonevents.co.uk 2) London Marathon Events says the course starts in Greenwich and Blackheath, passes Tower Bridge and Canary Wharf, and finishes on The Mall in Westminster. In Trafalgar Square, some nearby roads are scheduled to close from 7:30 a.m. until 10 p.m. on race day. (londonmarathonevents.co.uk 1) (londonmarathonevents.co.uk 2) For Warner-Judd, the marathon is the next step in a return that once looked uncertain. She told BBC Sport she now sees London as “a second chance at running” after the diagnosis that interrupted her track career. (bbc.com)