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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Sean Ingle

Sabastian Sawe: the marathon star on a mission to be drug tested as much as possible

Sabastian Sawe celebrates as winner of the Berlin Marathon in 2025
Sabastian Sawe celebrates after winning the Berlin Marathon in 2025. Photograph: Marvin Ibo Guengoer/GES Sportfoto/Getty Images

Last week the world’s best marathon runner, Sabastian Sawe, looked me straight in the eye and told me “doping is a cancer”. Then he insisted he was clean. You hear such oaths and affirmations all the time. But, uniquely, Sawe recently backed up those words by asking the Athletics Integrity Unit to test him as much as possible.

You see, Sawe believed he could break the world record in Berlin in September. And he also understood that Kenya’s abysmal doping record meant that success would be met with more raised eyebrows than a plastic surgeon’s clinic in Hollywood. So the call went into the AIU. Test me. Repeatedly. Throw everything at it. My sponsors, Adidas, will pick up the bill.

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