Tag: Kenya

Marathon world record-breaker Sabastian Sawe was received with a hero’s welcome as he returned to his home country of Kenya and was praised by President William Ruto on Thursday.

Sawe made history in London on Sunday by becoming the first athlete to run a sub-two-hour marathon in race conditions.

Receiving Sawe at State House in Nairobi, Ruto said it was “a defining moment in the story of human endurance”.

He compared it to milestones in human history, including the first four-minute mile by Roger Bannister in 1954 and even the moon landing.

“Future generations will look back on 26 April, 2026, as the day a man broke through a physical and psychological barrier long thought insurmountable; and the name forever attached to that moment will be Sabastian Sawe,” Ruto said in a speech.

Sabastian Sawe clocked 1hr 59min 30sec in a tight battle with Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha, who also came in under two hours.

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Sawe was mobbed at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport when he landed late Wednesday.

“It is such a beautiful day. I’m glad you have joined me in celebrating, and that you have shown a spirit I never expected could be like this. I’m very grateful,” he told the crowd.

“I didn’t do it just for myself, I did it for all of us. And I would like us all to enjoy it and for it to stand as a record for all of us,” he added.

Kenya has dominated long-distance running, and its runners are superstars in the country.

The pressure to break into the elite means that doping is a major problem in Kenya.

Two former Kenyan winners of the men’s race at the London Marathon, Wilson Kipsang, the victor in 2012 and 2014, and 2017 winner Daniel Wanjiru, are among those to have been subsequently banned.

In a bid to allay such suspicions about his own performances, Sawe has voluntarily subjected himself to extra drug testing, even paying $50,000 to be tested 25 times in the year by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) before last year’s Berlin race.

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Former Kenya national team captain Victor Wanyama, the first from his country to join the English Premier League, announced his retirement from football at the age of 34.

The midfielder, whose career spanned nearly two decades, signed for Southampton from Scottish club Celtic for a reported fee of £12.5 million in July 2013.

He made 85 appearances for the Saints, scoring only four goals, before agreeing a £11 million move to fellow League side Tottenham in June 2016.

“Today I announce my retirement from football,” Wanyama said late Friday on X. “Four different countries, six different clubs, a boy from Muthurwa with a big dream, carrying a nation’s pride every time I stepped onto the pitch.”

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Victor Wanyama made 64 international appearances for Kenya before quitting as Harambee Stars captain in September 2021 after being overlooked for Kenya’s unsuccessful attempt to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.

He was called out of retirement by the current coach, Benni McCarthy, as the team prepared for the African Nations Championships, which was played in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in August 2025, but did not take up the offer.

In March 2025, Wanyama returned to the Scottish League when he joined Championship club Dunfermline Athletic on a short-term deal after a two-and-a-half spell with the Canadian Major League soccer (MLS) club Montreal Impact.

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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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