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Sabastian Sawe crossed the line outside Buckingham Palace in 1:59:30 after a powerful late surge, becoming the first man to break the two-hour barrier in an official marathon race.
His run smashed Kelvin Kiptum’s 2023 world record and turned one of athletics’ great barriers into a competitive reality.
Eliud Kipchoge ran under two hours in Vienna in 2019, but that mark was not recognised as an official record because it came under controlled conditions with rotating pacemakers.
The depth of this year`s race made the result even more remarkable. Yomif Kejelcha took second in 1:59:41, meaning two men broke the two-hour mark on the same day. Jacob Kiplimo also went under the old world-record time, finishing third at 2:00:28.
London is not usually seen as the quickest marathon course. Berlin and Chicago are generally regarded as faster, which made the scale of Sawe’s performance even more striking.
Sawe said he felt strong near the finish and called the victory a day to remember.
The women’s race also produced a landmark result, with Assefa defending her title in 2:15:41 to set the fastest women’s-only marathon time ever recorded.
What Else
Sawe’s run is likely to reset expectations in elite marathoning now that one of the sport’s great barriers has fallen in official competition. It also raises the prospect of even faster times on quicker courses such as Berlin and Chicago, making London’s historic afternoon feel less like a one-off than the start of a new era.
