How Sabastian Sawe achieved the impossible with first marathon under two hours
Sawe, the ‘silent assassin’, made history with his world-record time of 1:59.30 London Marathon, an event that changes the course of sporting history
History by stealth. It was quick – it had been from the start – but no one had any inkling that one of the greatest ever sporting feats was even a possibility until just a mile of the 2026 London Marathon remained and a predicted finish time flashed up on screen. That the projection began with the number one was sufficient to make hair stand on end.
We already knew Sabastian Sawe was talented. The Kenyan had won all three of his previous career marathons before this – including in London last year – and was the favourite to triumph again on Sunday. But for so much of this race, victory was not even guaranteed.
He had last year’s Ugandan second-placed finisher, Jacob Kiplimo , attempting to hang onto his super shoes and Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha – in the process of completing the most spectacular debut marathon in history – for company. So Sawe simply did what was required: he sped up. The further he went, the quicker he ran.
Every step over the final few miles was faster than the last. By the time he entered The Mall, Kejelcha had finally been dropped and Sawe was sprinting to a feat far beyond mere victory in one race. He was achieving the unthinkable as the first man ever to run a legal marathon in less than two hours.