Sawe’s sub-two-hour marathon continues to move the needle of elite performance possibilities

Additional reporting by Reuters

There are some athletic feats that resonate beyond their immediate discipline and echo with wider significance than in the sporting arena alone.

Kenyan Sabastian Sawe’s sub-two-hour time at the London Marathon on Sunday was one of those occasions. Along with second-placed finisher Yomif Kejelcha from Ethiopia, who also dipped under two hours, they reset what we knew was possible.

In Sawe’s case, it was the second time a human had broken the two-hour barrier, when he crossed the line in one hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds (1:59:30). But it was the first time in a competitive race setting, which made this feat truly remarkable.

Kejelcha finished 11 seconds behind Sawe, remarkably in his first marathon after moving from the track, where he is a successful 10,000m runner.

For the first 25km, Sawe had a series of pacemakers to keep him on schedule, but the truly mind-boggling aspect of the race is that he ran the second half of the race in 59:01, which was 88 seconds faster than his first half (1:00:29).

The decisive phase came between 30km and 35km. A 13:54, five-kilometre split saw Sawe and Kejelcha edge clear, dropping Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo, who remained in third some 21 seconds adrift.

The leading duo then accelerated again, covering the next five kilometres in 13:42 as the likelihood of a sub-two-hour finish increased with each step.

Defending champion Sawe made his move with under two kilometres to go, breaking clear of Kejelcha and pressing on alone.

Sawe averaged 2:50 per kilometre in the race at an average speed of 21.19km/h for nearly two hours.

Breaking barriers

In 2019, marathon great Eliud Kipchoge was the first person to run the 42.195km race in under two hours when he clocked 1:59:40 in a controlled attempt, rather than a race.

Backed by science, pacemakers and money from petrochemical giant Ineos and apparel manufacturer Nike, Kipchoge did it in near-perfect conditions in the Austrian capital of Vienna, in an attempt specifically designed to break the elusive two-hour marathon mark.

He achieved running’s equivalent of the “moon landing”, as some put it.

The attempt and the time were acknowledged as barrier-breaking, but not as a world record by World Athletics, because the time had not been achieved in a competitive race setting.

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On Sunday, Sawe officially shattered the 2:00:35 marathon world record held by the late Kelvin Kiptum, who died in a car accident in 2024 at the age of 24.

Kejelcha matched Sawe’s pace before he lost touch in the final stages, with Kiplimo taking third in 2:00.28, making for the greatest marathon of all time.

“I am feeling good, I am happy, it’s a day to remember for me,” Sawe told the BBC, holding up his shoe with “WR” and “sub-2” written on it in black marker pen.

“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.

“I think today shows me a lot, the first [time] for everyone, and I am so happy for today. Coming to London for the second time was so important to me, and that's why I prepared well for it.”

Wings on his heels

While Sawe’s achievement was a testament to his talent, training and dedication, it was also the culmination of months of planning, topped off by shoe technology.

The Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 shoes he wore are widely considered the primary technological catalyst for the record-breaking run.

Their design represents a radical departure from traditional marathon racing footwear, focusing on extreme weight reduction and high-energy efficiency.

Each shoe weighs just 97 grams, and a pair retails for about R8,300.

Sawe, Kejelcha and the winning woman, Tigst Assefa (Ethiopia) — who broke her own world record — were all wearing the shoes, which are set to go on sale on Thursday.

Adidas’ shares rose on Monday, 24 hours after the race.

The win is a boost for Adidas against its arch-rival Nike, after years of lab‑backed experiments and near‑misses in the quest to build a record-breaking “supershoe”.

Nike’s Breaking2 attempt at Monza in 2017 just fell short, although Kipchoge was wearing Nikes when he ran under two hours in Vienna.

“The Adidas family is incredibly proud of Sabastian and Tigst’s historic achievements,” said Patrick Nava, general manager at Adidas Running.

“This is a testament to the years of hard work and dedication they have made, alongside our innovation team.”

Training and talent

Following a rise in doping-related suspensions among Kenyan athletes, most notably the 2025 case of Ruth Chepngetich, Sawe and his management team, led by his agent, Eric Lilot, made a conscious decision to confront potential doubt head-on.

They recognised that as a Kenyan elite athlete, his record-breaking performances would inevitably face intense scrutiny.

They asked the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) to test Sawe more often to ensure his name could not be tarnished should he break the world record.

“We knew that [clean] Kenyan athletes and their performances would be under even more suspicion, and to no fault of their own,” Lilot told LetsRun.com.

“We both felt and agreed that we needed to confront the issue of doping in some shape or form. We not only wanted to fight doping, but, just as importantly, we wanted to help support the cause for clean athletes, of whom there are many incredible talents in Kenya and beyond.”

By voluntarily submitting to a regimen far more rigorous than that required for standard elite competition, Sawe has sought to distinguish his achievements from the doping controversies that have historically tarnished the sport.

According to several reports, Sawe was tested by the AIU 25 times in two months leading up to the Berlin marathon last September.

Sawe continues the lineage of great African athletes who, for the last 65 years, have dominated middle- and long-distance events.

It was only in the 1960s that the world started to appreciate the latent running talent coming from Africa.

The era of African distance-running dominance began at the 1960 Rome Olympics, sparked by Abebe Bikila’s historic marathon victory while running barefoot.

Bikile’s moonlight finish in the Eternal City, after covering the 42.2km course over Rome’s rough streets without shoes to break the Olympic record by seven minutes 47 seconds, remains one of the greatest-ever athletic achievements.

Sawe has moved the needle a little further along the spectrum thanks to his brilliance and planning.

Sawe’s coach, Claudio Berardelli, explained some of the murderous training regimen the athlete has been through.

“In the last six weeks, he was averaging 200km and above a week, while the peak was 241km,” said Berardelli.

“I knew he was super-good for Berlin, but he couldn’t express himself because of the conditions. But when I started to see him running the way he ran before London, I was like, hey, something special might come out.

“There is no doubt we are in the new era of marathon running because of the shoe and proper fuelling.

“Definitely physiologically, Sabastian has to be a good one. But all the pieces come together perfectly, because of his attitude, because of his character. I’m still in the process of discovering who Sawe is. He is an exceptional human being. He has such a positive energy, but he’s so humble at the same time.

“In 22 years I’ve been coaching in Kenya I thought I’d seen pretty much everything, but then Sabastian started to show me something which I thought was almost impossible.” DM

Leading results

Men
1 Sabastian Sawe (KEN) 1:59:30
2 Yomif Kejelcha (ETH) 1:59:41
3 Jacob Kiplimo (UGA) 2:00:28
4 Amos Kipruto (KEN) 2:01:39
5 Tamirat Tola (ETH) 2:02:59
6 Deresa Geleta (ETH) 2:03:23
7 Addisu Gobena (ETH) 2:05:23
8 Geoffrey Kamworor (KEN) 2:05:38
9 Peter Lynch (IRL) 2:06:08
10 Mahamed Mahamed (GBR) 2:06:14

Women
1 Tigst Assefa (ETH) 2:15:41
2 Hellen Obiri (KEN) 2:15:53
3 Joyciline Jepkosgei (KEN) 2:15:55
4 Degitu Azimeraw (ETH) 2:19:13
5 Catherine Reline Amanang’ole (KEN) 2:21:20
6 Eunice Chumba (BRN) 2:23:44
7 Eilish McColgan (GBR) 2:24:51
8 Julia Paternain (URU) 2:25:47
9 Rose Harvey (GBR) 2:26:14
10 Marta Galimany (ESP) 2:27:38