Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe has become the first person in history to run a sub-two-hour marathon in a sanctioned race, crossing the finish line at the 2026 London Marathon on Sunday in a world record time of 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds.
The 31-year-old, who retained his London Marathon title with the run, smashed the previous men’s world record held by the late Kelvin Kiptum – set at the Chicago Marathon in 2023 – by a full 65 seconds.
Remarkably, the race produced not one but two sub-two-hour finishes. Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha, competing in his very first marathon, crossed the line in 1:59:41 to take second place, while Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo finished third in 2:00:28, itself faster than the previous world record.
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Sawe’s run was all the more impressive for how it unfolded. He reached the halfway point in 60 minutes and 29 seconds before accelerating through the second half, finishing the final 21 kilometres in 59:01 – getting faster as the race went on.
Both Sawe and Kejelcha made history wearing Adidas, not Nike – a notable footnote given that Nike’s Breaking2 project, launched a decade ago, is widely credited with sparking the era of carbon-fibre running shoes that helped make such times possible.
Eliud Kipchoge previously ran 1:59:40 in the INEOS 1:59 Challenge in 2019, but that effort used revolving pacers and was not eligible for official world record status.
Sawe’s record is subject to ratification by World Athletics.
