Sabastian Sawe broke the two-hour mark for the first time in history on Sunday in winning the London Marathon as Tigst Assefa smashed her own women’s-only world record.
Kenya’s defending champion Sawe was locked in a tight battle with Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha in the closing stages but surged clear to cross the line in 1hr 59min 30sec.
Kejelcha, running his first-ever marathon, also dipped under two hours, with a time of 1:59:41, with Uganda’s Jacob Kiplomo third (2:00:28).
All three finished under the previous men’s world record of 2:00:35 set in Chicago in 2023 by the late Kelvin Kiptum.
“We started the race well and at the end of the race, I was feeling strong,” said Sawe.
“Finally reaching the finishing line, I saw the time, and I was so excited to see I had run a world record today.
“I was very prepared because coming to London for the second time was so important to me, and that’s why I prepared well for it.”
Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge ran 1:59:40 in October 2019, becoming the first person in recorded history to do a sub-two-hour marathon.
But the time was not ratified as a world record because he ran with specialised shoes, standard competition rules for pacing and fluids were not followed, and it was not an open event.
Sawe, wearing Adidas’s new Pro Evo 3 supershoe, which weighs less than 100 grams, suggested before Sunday’s race that a course record or even a world record was in his sights.
He led a group of six as they passed the half-way point in a time of 1:00:29.
Sawe and Kejelcha pulled clear of the rest of the pack and stayed together until the final stages before the Kenyan kicked for home.
In the women’s race, reigning Olympic and world silver medallist Assefa was locked in a three-way tussle with Kenyan pair Hellen Obiri and Joyciline Jepkosgei, but surged away in the closing stages to cross the line in a time of 2:15:41.
That time beat by nine seconds the Ethiopian’s previous best, set on the same course last year.
“I’m so happy to win again,” said Assefa. “To repeat my victory from last year means even more. The happiness I feel is just swelling up inside me.
“It was one of my plans really coming into this competition to break my own world record from last year’s race. So to do that has brought me a lot of satisfaction.”
Obiri, a two-time former world 5,000m champion who won marathon bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics, came in second in a personal best of 2:15:53.
She finished just two-hundredths of a second ahead of compatriot Jepkosgei.
The world record set in a mixed race where female athletes benefit from male pacemakers was by Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich, who clocked 2:09:56 at the Chicago Marathon in October 2024.
More than 59,000 people were expected to complete the 26.2-mile (42.2-km) course in the 46th London Marathon in warm spring weather.
Last year’s race set a new world record for the number of finishers, with a total of 56,640 entrants completing the distance.
Marathon organisers said last month they are exploring holding the event over two days next year, allowing up to 100,000 runners.
The 2025 race raised a record £87.3 million ($118 million) for charity, setting a new world record for the biggest annual one-day fundraising event.
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