Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe ran 1:59:30 at the London Marathon on Sunday, becoming the first man to break the two-hour marathon barrier in an open race.
Sawe retained his London crown after holding off Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha, who finished second and helped push the pace through the closing stages.
The time cut 65 seconds from Kelvin Kiptum’s previous marathon best of 2:00:35, set in Chicago in 2023.
BREAKING VIDEO: Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe becomes the first person ever to win a regular marathon in under two hours, setting a new world record at the London Marathon in 1:59:30!
Kenyans invented running™ pic.twitter.com/esN8QAwWmm
— Larry Madowo (@LarryMadowo) April 26, 2026BBC pundit Paula Radcliffe said the performance moved the benchmark for world-class marathon running.
Radcliffe, who held the women’s marathon record from 2003 to 2019, said Sawe and Kejelcha paced the race smartly rather than starting too fast.
Eliud Kipchoge had earlier run 1:59:40 in Vienna in October 2019, but officials did not ratify that time as a world record because the event used special conditions and did not follow standard competition rules.
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Paul Tergat’s 2:04:55 at the 2003 Berlin Marathon marked the first ratified men’s marathon world record over 26.2 miles, or 42.2km.
