It was a groundbreaking achievement, accomplished on two remarkable feet.
Kenyas’ Sabastian Sawe made history as the first man to complete an official marathon in under two hours, achieving this extraordinary milestone at the London Marathon on Sunday. This barrier had challenged athletes for generations.
Sawe, at 31, completed the 26.2-mile race through the streets of the British capital in an astonishing one hour, 59 minutes, and 30 seconds. In an incredible finish, Yomif Kejelcha from Ethiopia also broke the two-hour mark, finishing just 11 seconds after Sawe, as reported by various sources.
Speaking to the BBC after his momentous achievement, Sawe expressed his joy, saying, “I’m feeling good. I am happy, it’s a day to remember for me.”
For the cameras, he proudly displayed his running shoes, which bore the inscriptions “WR” and “sub-2” in black marker.
Reflecting on the race, he shared, “We started the race well. As I neared the finish, I felt strong. Finally, crossing the line and seeing the time, I was overwhelmed with excitement.”
The third-place finisher in the men’s race Sunday came in at two hours and 28 seconds, also enough to best the previous marathon record of two hours and 35 seconds set by the late Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya at the Chicago Marathon in 2023.
In the women’s race, Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa, 29, broke her own world record with a time of two hours, 15 minutes and 50 seconds at the London race.
“I’m so happy to win again,” she told the BBC. “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.”
One footnote to the sub-two runs on Sunday is it’s the first officially sanctioned marathon under that mark, although Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge did it in 2019 at an unsanctioned corporate sponsored event.
In addition, while all official marathons are a strict 26.2 miles in distance, the difficulty can differ greatly because of differences in geography depending on the location. For example, the Yonkers Marathon is considered one of the most challenging because of the suburban city’s hilly terrain.
