For the first time under two hours
Kenyan storms to marathon world record
Updated April 26, 2026 – 1:06 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Sensation in London: Kenyan Sabastian Sawe is the first person to run an official marathon under two hours. He is writing sports history.
Kenyan Sabastian Sawe broke the marathon world record in London. The 29-year-old won the prestigious race in 1:59:30 hours, becoming the first person to stay under the magical two-hour mark in an official competition. Sawe was 65 seconds faster than his compatriot Kelvin Kiptum, who ran 2:00:35 hours in Chicago in 2023. Kiptum died in a traffic accident in his homeland just a few months later in February 2024.
Sawe has entered a new dimension and is now writing sports history with his time, even though the two-time Olympic champion and former world record holder Eliud Kipchoge had already completed a marathon under two hours before him.
The Kenyan Kipchoge completed the classic route on October 12, 2019 in Vienna in 1:59:40 hours. However, this run was not public and took place under laboratory conditions with changing pacers. Therefore the time was not considered a world record.
With optimal conditions in London, the pace was extremely high right from the start, thanks to several pacemakers. A large leading group ran together for a long time before last year’s winner Sawe and Yomif Kejelcha from Ethiopia broke away after about 30 kilometers. Kejelcha made his marathon debut in the British capital.
The results of other runners also show how good the conditions were: Second-placed Kejelcha also stayed under the magical two-hour mark with a time of 01:59:41 hours. Third-placed Jacob Kiplimo crossed the finish line after 02:00:28 hours, also faster than the previous world record.
This time the German record holder Amanal Petros missed out on a top placement. As usual, he ran a defensive race and stayed in the chasing group for a long time. Petros was still on course to break his German record in the first half. But after a good 25 kilometers, the 30-year-old had to stop. Petros finished 15th in 2:08:31 hours, missing his German record by more than four minutes.
In the women’s race, Tigst Assefa from Ethiopia won in 2:15:41 hours. That meant she was just 16 seconds ahead of British running icon Paula Radcliffe’s 23-year-old course record.
