Sabastian Sawe breaks two-hour barrier
- Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe won the London Marathon on April 26 in 1:59:30, becoming the first man to break two hours in a record-eligible race. - Sawe cut 65 seconds off Kelvin Kiptum’s 2:00:35 world record, while Yomif Kejelcha also went sub-two in 1:59:41 on debut. - Tigst Assefa also set a women-only world record at 2:15:41 in the same race. (worldathletics.org)
Sabastian Sawe ran 1:59:30 to win the London Marathon on Sunday, April 26, becoming the first man to break two hours in a record-eligible marathon. (worldathletics.org) World Athletics said Sawe took 65 seconds off Kelvin Kiptum’s previous world record of 2:00:35, set in Chicago in 2023. Sawe made his decisive move with one mile left and closed with a 59:01 second half. (worldathletics.org) The race did not just produce one sub-two run. Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha finished second in 1:59:41, listed by World Athletics as the fastest marathon debut ever, and Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo took third in 2:00:28. (worldathletics.org 1) (worldathletics.org 2) A marathon covers 26.2 miles, and official world records count only under standard race conditions rather than staged exhibitions. That is why Sawe’s mark is being treated differently from Eliud Kipchoge’s 1:59:41 exhibition run in Vienna in 2019. (worldathletics.org) London’s men’s race was paced aggressively from the start, with the lead group hitting 5 kilometers in 14:14, 10 kilometers in 28:34 and halfway in 1:00:29. Sawe and Kejelcha then split 13:54 and 13:42 for successive 5-kilometer segments after 30 kilometers as the field broke apart. (worldathletics.org) The same race also reset the women-only benchmark. Tigst Assefa defended her London title in 2:15:41, with Hellen Obiri second in 2:15:53 and Joyciline Jepkosgei third in 2:15:55. (worldathletics.org 1) (worldathletics.org 2) In the wheelchair races, Marcel Hug won his eighth London title and Catherine Debrunner won her fourth, according to the International Paralympic Committee and London Marathon Events. Hug’s eighth title matched the men’s wheelchair race record in London. (paralympic.org) (londonmarathonevents.co.uk) Sawe had already won London in 2025 in 2:02:27 and arrived as the defending champion in a field that included Kejelcha, Kiplimo, Tamirat Tola and Joshua Cheptegei. On April 26, he turned that rematch into the first legal sub-two marathon. (worldathletics.org 1) (worldathletics.org 2)
