Wicked star Cynthia Erivo back on stage 24 hours after HUGE London Marathon PB

Cynthia Erivo will be back on stage tonight [Monday 27 April] at the Noël Coward Theatre, where she plays 23 roles in Dracula, not much more than 24 hours after setting a big PB at the London Marathon.

The award-winning actor and star of Wicked, Erivo tackled London again and was running for both The Kings Trust and Shameless Fund.

She completed the 2022 event in an impressive 3:35:36 but this year knocked nearly 14 minutes off that with a time of 3:21:40.

‘It feels like a homecoming’

Speaking afterwards in the video embedded at the foot of this article, she said: “I got on really well today, I PB’d with 3:21 so I think this was really successful.

“The atmosphere was just amazing, I don’t know how many times I heard my name screamed around the course it was wild and insane, there was a little rough moment where I thought I wasn’t going to make it but then I found a little bit of strength and I had a friend helping me so I’m really proud.”

Asked why London, she explained: “It is home. It is really good to be on that course, my mum is here, my sister is here who always meets me at mile 21 and yells my name and screams and has a big old card. It feels like a homecoming.”

In terms of what she gets from running, she said: “I just get to centre, I process all the things that are going on in my life and get to think about the things that I want to think about and zone out for a second, meditate for a second and just be me, no makeup, no nothing, no costume – just me.”

But she doesn’t get much time for rest: “I am back on stage tomorrow at 7:30pm, so I should be fine, I think I will be alright but I might be a little slower than usual.”

Battle of the Harrys

She was one of a whole host of celebrities who took part on Sunday and they included McFly drummer and long‑time running enthusiast Harry Judd.

He too set an impressive PB of 3:05:25 but he’s got sub-three hours in his sights after a certain fellow musician clocked 2:59 at Berlin last year.

Judd said: “I am very happy as this is a big PB for me. Strangely I had the worst training – it has been a real rollercoaster but running gives me a real sense of purpose.

“There is a real rivalry in the music world – Harry Styles has definitely put me back in my box!”

One person who did dip under that three-hour mark was four-time F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel with a 2:59:08 on what was his very first marathon: “I’m full of adrenaline! You just are swimming along in a sea of people but I am very happy that I managed to finish. I’ve never done a running competition before so today exceeded my expectations. It is great to go under three hours but the last 10 miles felt really long.”

Another under three hours was Russ Cook – aka the ‘Hardest Geezer’ – with a nicely-paced 2:46, though that was a little way off his target of sub-2:35.