Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe won the Berlin Marathon for the first time on Sunday, narrowly missing a personal best in just his third marathon attempt.
Sawe finished in 2hr 02min 16sec, 11 seconds slower than his personal best set in Valencia in 2024.
Sawe’s time is joint-ninth fastest in history, but fell outside the late Kelvin Kiptum’s world record time of 2:00:35 and Eliud Kipchoge’s course record of 2:01:09, set in 2022.
Japan’s Akira Akasaki finished second in a time of 2:06:15, and Ethiopia’s Chimdessa Debele completed the podium with 2:06:57.
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The men started fast in the warmer-than-usual conditions in the German capital, recording the fastest opening kilometre in the race’s history.
Sawe and the leading pack, including 2024 winner Milkesa Mengesha and Gabriel Geay, kept up the record pace early and were on track for the world mark inside the first 10 kilometres.
Sawe then separated himself from the leaders with a 15-kilometre run, opening up an 11-second gap over Mengesha.
The 29-year-old Sawe had run negative splits in both of his previous marathons but fell off the pace slightly in the second half of the race as the mercury climbed in Berlin.
Despite missing a personal best or challenging the course record of his mentor Kipchoge, Sawe’s time is the best in the world for 2025, 11 seconds faster than his previous mark set in London in April.
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