{"id":3286,"date":"2026-04-28T13:58:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T13:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3286"},"modified":"2026-04-28T13:58:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T13:58:14","slug":"kenyas-sabastian-sawe-becomes-first-person-to-run-marathon-under-two-hours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3286","title":{"rendered":"Kenya\u2019s Sabastian Sawe becomes first person to run marathon under two hours"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Sabastian Sawe broke the two-hour mark for the first time in history on Sunday in winning&nbsp;the London Marathon as Tigst Assefa smashed her own women\u2019s-only world record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kenya\u2019s defending champion Sawe was locked in a tight battle with Ethiopia\u2019s Yomif Kejelcha in the closing stages but surged clear to cross the line in 1hr 59min 30sec.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Rema - AZAMAN\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Z2L51xr45As?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Kejelcha, running his first-ever marathon, also\u00a0dipped under two hours, with a time of 1:59:41, with Uganda\u2019s Jacob Kiplomo third (2:00:28).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All three finished under the previous men\u2019s world record of 2:00:35 set in Chicago in 2023 by the late Kelvin Kiptum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe started the race well and at the end of the race, I was feeling strong,\u201d said Sawe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFinally reaching the finishing line, I saw the time, and I was so excited to see I had run a world record today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI was very prepared because coming to London for the second time was so important to me, and that\u2019s why I prepared well for it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kenya\u2019s Eliud Kipchoge ran 1:59:40 in October 2019, becoming the first person in recorded history to do a sub-two-hour marathon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the time was not ratified as a world record because he ran with specialised shoes, standard competition rules for pacing and fluids were not followed, and it was not an open event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sawe, wearing Adidas\u2019s new Pro Evo 3 supershoe, which weighs less than 100 grams, suggested before Sunday\u2019s race that a course record or even a world record was in his sights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He led a group of six as they passed the half-way point in a time of 1:00:29.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sawe and Kejelcha pulled clear of the rest of the pack and stayed together until the final stages before the Kenyan kicked for home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the women\u2019s race, reigning Olympic and world silver medallist Assefa was locked in a three-way tussle with Kenyan pair Hellen Obiri and Joyciline Jepkosgei, but surged away in the closing stages to cross the line in a time of 2:15:41.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That time beat by nine seconds the Ethiopian\u2019s previous best, set on the same course last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m so happy to win again,\u201d said Assefa. \u201cTo repeat my victory from last year means even more. The happiness I feel is just swelling up inside me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt was one of my plans really coming into this competition to break my own world record from last year\u2019s race. So to do that has brought me a lot of satisfaction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Obiri, a two-time former world 5,000m champion who won marathon bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics, came in second in a personal best of 2:15:53.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She finished just two-hundredths of a second ahead of compatriot Jepkosgei.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The world record set in a mixed race where female athletes benefit from male pacemakers was by Kenya\u2019s Ruth Chepngetich, who clocked 2:09:56 at the Chicago Marathon in October 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More than 59,000 people were expected to complete the 26.2-mile (42.2-km) course in the 46th London Marathon in warm spring weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last year\u2019s race set a new world record for the number of finishers, with a total of 56,640 entrants completing the distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marathon organisers said last month they are exploring holding the event over two days next year, allowing up to 100,000 runners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 2025 race raised a record \u00a387.3 million ($118 million) for charity, setting a new world record for the biggest annual one-day fundraising event. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanguardngr.com\/2026\/04\/kenyas-sabastian-sawe-becomes-first-person-to-run-marathon-under-two-hours\/\">(Vanguard)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sabastian Sawe broke the two-hour mark for the first time in history on Sunday in winning&nbsp;the London Marathon as Tigst Assefa smashed her own women\u2019s-only world record. Kenya\u2019s defending champion Sawe was locked in a tight battle with Ethiopia\u2019s Yomif Kejelcha in the closing stages but surged clear to cross the line in 1hr 59min [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[3433,3432,183,3429,3428,3430,3431],"class_list":["post-3286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","tag-chicago-marathon","tag-kelvin-kiptum","tag-kenya","tag-london-marathon","tag-sabastian-sawe","tag-tigst-assefa","tag-yomif-kejelcha"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Kenya\u2019s Sabastian Sawe becomes first person to run marathon under two hours - Tona Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3286\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kenya\u2019s Sabastian Sawe becomes first person to run marathon under two hours - Tona Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sabastian Sawe broke the two-hour mark for the first time in history on Sunday in winning&nbsp;the London Marathon as Tigst Assefa smashed her own women\u2019s-only world record. 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