Kenya's Sabastian Sawe shattered one of athletics’ most elusive barriers on Sunday, becoming the first man to run a marathon in under two hours as he stormed to victory on the streets of London in one hour 59 minutes and 30 seconds.
The Kenyan defended his 2025 London Marathon title, beating Yomif Kejelcha by 11 seconds. The Ethiopian runner-up also crossed the line in an astonishing one hour, 59 minutes and 41 seconds, while Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda finished third in two hours, 28 seconds.
All three were faster than the previous official world record of two hours, 35 seconds set by the late Kelvin Kiptum in 2023, while Sawe's time was also 10 seconds faster than the unofficial one hour, 59 minutes and 40 seconds set by Eliud Kipchoge in 2019.
Kiptum died in a car crash in 2024 in Kenya when he was just 24 years old.
Sawe told BBC One: “I am feeling good. I am so happy. It is a day to remember for me. We started the race well. Approaching finishing the race, I was feeling strong.
“Finally reaching the finish line, I saw the time, and I was so excited. Coming to London for the second time was so important to me and that's why I prepared well for it.
“What I had done for four months, it has come today to be a good result.”
Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia broke her own women's only world record en route to victory.
The 29-year-old pulled away from Kenyans Hellen Obiri and Joyciline Jepkosgei down the home stretch to cross the finish line in 2:15.41 seconds, beating the record of 2:15.50 she set last year in London.
Obiri was second in 2:15.53, while Jepkosgei took the bronze in 2:15.55.
“I'm so happy to win again, I want to thank God for giving me this victory, to repeat my victory from last year means even more. And so the happiness I feel is just welling up inside me,” Assefa said.
Conditions were ideal in London, where the men got out to a blazing start, and Sawe was under the world record pace at the 10-kilometre mark before there was a collective let-up near Cutty Sark.
The main contenders remained grouped together five kilometres later, and at the halfway point Sawe clocked in at one hour, 29 seconds.
Sawe and Kejelcha eventually pulled ahead of Kiplimo, who was two seconds behind the leaders 30 kilometres in, and the front two had opened their lead even further five kilometres later.
Just as it looked like only the course record would be the one to fall, Sawe found another gear and set himself on course to make history.
Sawe, who trains at altitude in western Kenya, has said he was inspired by his uncle, former Ugandan Olympian in the 800 metres Abraham Chepkirwod and was encouraged by a teacher who once told him: “Running is not just talent, it is your fortune and your future.”
He announced himself by winning with his dazzling marathon debut in Valencia in December 2024 in what was the fifth fastest time ever at that point, and has been perfect in every one of his races over the distance since.
Sawe has spoken out in the past about problems with doping in the sport. He has called for regular testing and, mindful of Kenya's poor doping record, invited the Athletics Integrity Unit to test him as much as possible last year. They did so 25 times in the run-up to the 2025 Berlin Marathon.
“The main reason was to show that I am clean, and I am doing it the right way,” he said.
The sub-two-hour marathon has been one of sport’s biggest obsession for years, pursued through a series of highly engineered projects aimed at redefining human limits.
Nike’s Breaking2 attempt at Monza in 2017 just fell short though Kenyan great Eliud Kipchoge ran under two hours in INEOS’s 1:59 Challenge two years later. Yet those efforts fell outside the sport’s official record books.
Sawe's historic race on Sunday differed in its setting and its stakes, achieved in open competition on one of the world's biggest stages, turning an idea long tested in controlled conditions into a landmark moment recognised by the sport itself.
The remarkable feat comes despite the fact that he was injured throughout the autumn and started training properly only in January before realising in February that he was going to be fit enough to defend his title in London.
