Hassan lost one of her biggest competitors early on in London. The Kenyan athlete Brigid Kosgei, who holds the world record with a time of 2:14:04, got out after just 1 kilometre. Kosgei hinted before the start that she was not quite fit, but immediately after the starting gun at Charlton Way she started limping. After about 3 minutes she gave up.
Kosgei ran her world record in 2018 in the Chicago Marathon. She twice won the classic over 42.195 kilometers in London, in 2019 and 2020.