Sabastian Sawe of Kenya ran the London Marathon in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds on Sunday, becoming the first person to run an official marathon in under two hours and setting a new world record in the process.
The 31-year-old shattered Kelvin Kiptum's previous record of 2:00:35, set in Chicago in 2023, by more than 30 seconds. The time was also 10 seconds faster than Eliud Kipchoge's unofficial 26.2-mile best, run in Vienna in 2019 under controlled pacing conditions that did not qualify for world record status.
Two other runners also finished under Kiptum's former record. Ethiopia's Yomif Kejelcha, running his debut marathon, crossed in 2:00:19, and Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo ran 2:00:28. Three men under the old world record in the same race, on a course widely considered slower than Berlin or Chicago.
"I am feeling good, I am so happy," Sawe said after crossing the line. "It is a day to remember. I have shown that nothing is not possible."
Insiders told the Guardian that Sawe earned more than $1 million from Sunday's race, combining prize money, appearance fees and bonuses.
The leading pack passed halfway in 60 minutes and 29 seconds, fast but not exceptional. The race broke open between 30 and 35 kilometers, when Sawe and Kejelcha ran the 5-kilometer split in 13:54, dropping Kiplimo. The following 5-kilometer segment, from 35 to 40 kilometers, came in 13:42, two seconds faster than the parkrun 5km world record held by Irish runner Nick Griggs.
Kejelcha held on until the 41-kilometer mark before fading. "My body is all great. At exactly 41 kilometres, my body stopped," he said. "I tried to push, but my legs were done." Sawe ran the second half of the race in just over 59 minutes.
Sawe's team had credited the new Adidas Adios Pro 3 racing shoe, weighing 97 grams, as the lightest marathon shoe made. At his training camp in Kapsabet, Kenya, teammates call Sawe the silent assassin. He went through the first half without drawing attention, then ran the final third of the race faster than anyone in marathon history had sustained.
The 2026 London Marathon, the 46th edition of the race and the third World Marathon Major of the year, drew 59,000 entered runners, a number that could surpass last year's finisher record of 56,640.
Sawe crossed the finish line with 30 seconds to spare, according to Al Jazeera. The achievement had long been considered the holy grail of distance running, comparable in symbolic weight to the four-minute mile.
Previous sub-two-hour marathon attempts, most notably Eliud Kipchoge's 2019 run in Vienna, were conducted under controlled conditions with rotating pacers and were not ratified as official world records. Sawe's finish at London came in a competitive race setting, making it the first of its kind.
No further details about Sawe's finishing time, the race conditions, or the margin by which the previous world record was broken were immediately available.
