First man to run a marathon in under two hours

The Kenyan Sabastian Sawe has broken the marathon world record in London. The 29-year-old won the prestigious race in 1:59:30 hours, becoming the first person to break the magical two-hour barrier in an official competition. Sawe was 65 seconds faster than his compatriot Kelvin Kiptum, who ran 2:00:35 in Chicago in 2023. Kiptum died just a few months later in February 2024 in a traffic accident in his home country.

Sawe entered a new dimension and made sporting history with his time, even though two-time Olympic champion and former world record holder Eliud Kipchoge had already completed a marathon under two hours before him. The Kenyan completed the classic distance on October 12, 2019 in Vienna in 1:59:40 hours. However, this race was not open to the public and took place under laboratory conditions with changing pacemakers. The time was therefore not considered a world record.

High pace right from the start

In ideal 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 around 30 kilometers. Kejelcha was making his marathon debut in the British capital.

Tigst Assefa from Ethiopia won the women's race in 2:15:41 hours. This was just 16 seconds faster than the 23-year-old course record set by British running icon Paula Radcliffe.