Sabastian Sawe makes history at London Marathon, becomes 1st athlete to run sub-two-hour marathon in competitive race

By  News On Air   Apr 27, 2026

Sabastian Sawe made history at the London Marathon by becoming the first athlete to run a sub-two-hour marathon in a competitive race. The 31-year-old Kenyan crossed the line to win in one hour 59 minutes 30 seconds, more than one minute faster than the late Kelvin Kiptum’s previous record of two hours and 35 seconds, set in 2023.

Already on world record pace as he crossed the halfway mark in one hour and 29 seconds, Sawe was able to speed up over the second half of the race to run even faster than Kipchoge’s time. Sawe made his decisive move before the final 10km, with only debutant Yomif Kejelcha able to cover his surge off the front.

Remarkably, Kejelcha, making his marathon debut, became the second man to run under two hours in race conditions, finishing runner-up in one hour 59 minutes and 49 seconds.