London Marathon 2026 results: Sabastian Sawe makes history with first competitive sub-two-hour marathon

Sabastian Sawe made history at the London Marathon by becoming the first athlete to run a marathon in under two hours in a competitive race.

The 30-year-old Kenyan won the race in one hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds, more than a minute faster than Kelvin Kiptum’s previous record of 2:00:35, set in 2023.

The great Eliud Kipchoge became the first person to run a marathon in under two hours in 2019, but this was not record-eligible because it was done under controlled conditions.

Sawe, who had already broken the world record when crossing the halfway mark in 1:00:29, managed to run even faster than Kipchoge’s time in the second half of the race.

Sawe made his decisive move before the final 10 kilometers and only debutant Yomif Kejelcha could hold off the attack from the front.

Remarkably, Kejelcha became the second person to run in under two hours, finishing second with a time of 1:59:41.