Sawe smashes two-hour mark to ‘move goalposts for marathon running’<\/b><\/p>\n
Sabastian Sawe made history at the London Marathon by becoming the first athlete to run a sub-two-hour marathon in a competitive race.<\/p>\n
The 31-year-old Kenyan crossed the line to win in one hour 59 minutes 30 seconds<\/b>, more than one minute faster than the late Kelvin Kiptum’s previous record of 2:00:35, set in 2023.<\/p>\n
The great Eliud Kipchoge became the first man to run a marathon in under two hours in 2019, but that was not record-eligible as it was held under controlled conditions.<\/p>\n
Already on world record pace as he crossed the halfway mark in 1:00:29, Sawe was able to speed up over the second half of the race to run even faster than Kipchoge’s time.<\/p>\n
Sawe made his decisive move before the final 10km, with only debutant Yomif Kejelcha able to cover his surge off the front.<\/p>\n
Remarkably, Kejelcha, making his marathon debut, became the second man to run under two hours in race conditions<\/b>, finishing runner-up in 1:59:41.<\/p>\n
Half marathon world record holder Jacob Kiplimo also crossed the line faster than Kiptum’s former record, completing the podium in 2:00:28.<\/p>\n
Sawe, speaking on BBC TV, said: “I am feeling good. I am so happy. It is a day to remember for me.”<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
Much of the focus beforehand had been about Sawe – winner of last year’s race in 2:02:27 – targeting Kiptum’s London Marathon course record of 2:01:25.<\/p>\n
He told BBC Sport this week that it was “only a matter of time” before he broke Kiptum’s world record, adding “I hope and wish one day [it will be me]” when asked about becoming the first person to run under two hours in a race.<\/p>\n
Sawe had targeted Kiptum’s world record in Berlin last September, when he went through halfway in 60:16, before that bid was ultimately undone by the hot weather.<\/p>\n
But, in perfect race conditions in London, Sawe stormed down The Mall to achieve that historic feat<\/b>, doing so in a time which was once considered impossible.<\/p>\n
BBC commentator and former world champion Steve Cram said: “There are things that happen in sport and you want to be there to see history being made – if you are watching on TV then well done, but if you’re in London, it is a privilege and it is incredible.”<\/p>\n
“We said it was a day for records but I don’t think in our wildest dreams we could have foreseen this.”<\/p>\n
After covering the first half of the course in 60:29, Sawe moved through the gears to complete the second half in just 59:01<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Only 63 men in history have run a half marathon as quickly as that – with Sawe’s own personal best standing at 58:05.<\/p>\n
His splits continued to quicken as he chased down his target, clocking 13:54 for the five kilometres from 30-35km, and 13:42 for the 35-40km stretch – an average pace of 2:45 per kilometre.<\/p>\n
“This will reverberate around the world,” said former women’s marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe.<\/p>\n
“The goalposts have literally just moved<\/b> for marathon running and where you benchmark yourself as being world-class.”<\/p>\n
“It is a lesson to everybody out there. We say ‘don’t go out too fast’ – they went out smartly and paced it really well.”<\/p>\n
Kitted out in sponsor Adidas’ latest supershoes, Sawe, who has won all four marathons he has contested, managed to take two minutes and 35 seconds off his marathon personal best.<\/p>\n
He has sought to ensure confidence in his performances by undergoing frequent drug tests and was tested 25 times before competing in Berlin, where he faded to finish in 2:02:16.<\/p>\n
“I want to thank the crowds for cheering us. I think they help a lot, because if it was not for them, you don’t feel like you are so loved,” Sawe said.<\/p>\n
“I think they help a lot because them calling makes you feel so happy and strong and pushing.”<\/p>\n
“That is why I can say what comes for me today is not for me alone but all of us in London.”<\/p>\n
Reacting to Sawe’s record, Britain’s four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah said: “We’ve waited long enough to see a human go sub-two.”<\/p>\n
“That’s always been the question that we’ve asked. We’ve just witnessed something incredible<\/b>.”<\/p>\nAssefa Improves Record as Hug Makes History<\/h3>\n
Assefa, the third-fastest woman in history, lined up as favourite to repeat her 2025 triumph in London after injuries forced Olympic gold medallist Sifan Hassan and world champion Peres Jepchirchir to withdraw.<\/p>\n
The leading trio in Sunday’s race remained inseparable until the closing kilometres, as Obiri and Jepkosgei accompanied Assefa inside the Ethiopian’s record pace set in London 12 months ago.<\/p>\n
But it was Assefa who summoned the energy to push on for victory, going nine seconds faster than her previous women-only record<\/b>.<\/p>\n
The women’s elite runners begin 30 minutes before the elite men in the London Marathon, meaning the event is classed as a women-only race.<\/p>\n
Obiri, a six-time global medallist on the track, crossed the line 12 seconds after Assefa, closely followed by Kenya’s 2021 winner Jepkosgei.<\/p>\n
Eilish McColgan was the first British woman across the line, placing seventh overall in 2:24:51, while Rose Harvey was ninth in 2:26:14.<\/p>\n
Mahamed Mahamed was the best-placed home athlete in the men’s event, finishing 10th in 2:06:14 and replacing Alex Yee as the second-fastest Briton in history.<\/p>\n
Hug produced another dominant performance to tie Weir’s record for the most victories<\/b> in London Marathon history.<\/p>\n
Hug, 40, crossed the line in 1:24:13, more than four and a half minutes clear of Chinese 23-year-old Luo Xingchuan.<\/p>\n
Briton Weir completed the podium in 1:29:23 in his 27th consecutive appearance at the event.<\/p>\n
Catherine Debrunner also retained the elite women’s wheelchair title<\/b> as the Swiss burst clear of American Tatyana McFadden in the closing stages, finishing just five seconds ahead of the American in clocking 1:38:29.<\/p>\n
Briton Eden Rainbow-Cooper went into the race with podium aspirations after finishing fourth last year and regaining her Boston Marathon title on Monday, but those hopes were dashed by a pre-race puncture which caused her to start the race late.<\/p>\n
#LondonMarathon #Sub2HourMarathon #SabastianSawe #MarathonRecord #AthleticsHistory #TigstAssefa #MarcelHug #RunningNews #WorldRecord #EliteRunning<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sawe smashes two-hour mark to ‘move goalposts for marathon running’ 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4986\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}