History by stealth. It was always quick – it had been from the start – but no one had any inkling that one of the greatest ever sporting feats was even a possibility until just a mile of the 2026 London Marathon remained and a predicted finish time flashed up on screen. That the projection began with the number one was sufficient to make hairs stand on end.
We already knew Sabastian Sawe was talented. The Kenyan had won all three of his previous career marathons prior to this – including in London last year – and was the favourite to triumph again on Sunday. But, for so much of this race, victory was not even guaranteed. He had last year’s Ugandan second-placed finisher Jacob Kiplimo attempting to hang onto his super shoes and Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha – in the process of completing the most spectacular debut marathon in history – for company.
So Sawe, 31, simply did what was required: he sped up. The further he went, the quicker he ran. Every step over the final few miles faster than the last. By the time he entered The Mall, Kejelcha had finally been dropped and Sawe was sprinting to a feat far beyond mere victory in one race. He was achieving the unthinkable as the first man ever to run a legal marathon in less than two hours. No carefully manicured course, wind-shielding or rotating pacemakers that had helped Eliud Kipchoge dip under that mark in an unofficial time trial in Vienna in 2019. This was legit.
One hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds. Put it in capital letters: ONE HOUR, FIFTY-NINE MINUTES AND THIRTY SECONDS. Stick with the bare numerals: 1:59.30. It does not matter what way you look at it, this was the definition of greatness – an athletic achievement to rank alongside Roger Bannister’s first sub-four-minute mile.
Remarkably, there was then more. Just 11 seconds behind him followed Kejelcha, a veteran on the track but a marathon novice, also breaking that mythical two-hour barrier. His finishing time of 1:59.41 is, ludicrously, destined to be a footnote. So, too, that of Kiplimo, who clocked 2:00.28, which would have been a world record without the extraordinary exploits of those who finished in front of him.
But the men’s marathon no longer deals in times that begin with the number two. We are in the era of the one.
“They said it could not be done,” said Steve Cram commentating on the BBC over pictures that will be beamed worldwide forevermore. “I’ve never seen anything like that. That, you would say, is unbelievable – but we have just seen it happen. I’m lost for words.”
Let us promptly deal with the two elephants in the room. Sawe hails from Kenya, a country with a diabolical doping record and more than 140 athletes currently suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for a range of offences. His coach, Claudio Berardelli, has trained a number of those banned athletes.
Fully aware of the fingers that will be pointed at him throughout his career, Sawe and his team last year approached the AIU – who head up anti-doping in the sport – and asked them to test him as much as possible, with his Adidas sponsors even giving the anti-doping body $50,000 annually solely for use on additional testing for the new world record holder. In the two months before last September’s Berlin Marathon, Sawe was tested 25 times – a mixture of blood and urine samples, sometimes taken multiple times per day. It is, of course, impossible for any athlete to prove a negative. But Sawe is at least attempting to show that he is clean.
The other factor is the shoes, in this case Adidas’ new Pro Evo 3, which retail for £450 and each of which weighs a mind-boggling 97 grams. They were worn by Sawe, Kejelcha and Ethiopian women’s winner Tigst Assefa, who set a women’s-only world record of 2:15.41 in London.
The advent of carbon fibre and hyper-responsive foam has forever changed what was deemed feasible. It is no wonder Sawe held one of his shoes in his hand throughout post-race media duties, indebted as he is to be running in the super-shoe era.
Sawe is no orator. Before the race, his agent referred to him as a “silent assassin”. Afterwards, the winner put his achievement down to “preparation, passion and discipline”, giving a nod to his own “courage” in continuing to push an already relentless pace late on.
“I have shown nothing is not possible,” said Sawe. “Everything is possible. It’s a matter of time. I think this something not to be forgotten. It’s something to remain in my mind forever.”
So, now that the two-hour mark has been felled, what more is possible? Berardelli believes Sawe’s limit is still some way off. “I would say sub-1:59 is possible,” he said. “Sabastian hasn’t reached his maximum potential. It was only his fourth marathon, if we think of long-term adaptations, which is a process requiring time, I believe Sabastian has not reached this yet.”
The truth is he could happily disappear and forever remain the first man to make the impossible possible. And then 11 seconds later another one came along. Truly extraordinary.
London Marathon LIVE: Sabastian Sawe makes history with first marathon under two hours
London Marathon 2027 ballot: How can I enter next year’s race?
Everything you need to know about next year’s ‘two-day’ London Marathon
London Marathon LIVE: Sawe makes history with first marathon under two hours
Sabastian Sawe says ‘nothing is impossible’ after two-hour marathon record
The celebrities expected to run in this year’s London Marathon
