Sawe Smashes Two-Hour Barrier to Win London Marathon, Assefa Sets New Record

Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe made history on Sunday, breaking the two-hour barrier to win the London Marathon, while Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa set a new women’s-only world record.

 

Sawe surged ahead in the closing stages to defeat Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha, crossing the finish line in 1:59:30—becoming the first athlete to officially run a sub-two-hour marathon under standard competition rules.

 

Kejelcha, making his marathon debut, also dipped below the two-hour mark with a time of 1:59:41, while Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo finished third in 2:00:28. All three runners went under the previous world record of 2:00:35 set by the late Kelvin Kiptum in 2023.

 

“We started the race well and at the end, I was feeling strong,” Sawe said. “When I saw the time, I was so excited to realise I had run a world record.”

 

The Kenyan, competing in London for the second time, credited his preparation for the historic feat.

 

Sawe had led a group of six runners at the halfway mark before pulling away alongside Kejelcha and eventually breaking clear near the finish.

 

In the women’s race, Assefa delivered a commanding performance, finishing in 2:15:41 to break her previous women’s-only world record set last year.

 

“I’m so happy to win again,” she said. “It was one of my plans to break my own record, so this brings me a lot of satisfaction.”

 

She pulled away from Kenyan duo Hellen Obiri and Joyciline Jepkosgei in the final stretch. Obiri finished second in a personal best of 2:15:53, narrowly ahead of Jepkosgei.

 

The race attracted more than 59,000 participants, with organisers exploring the possibility of expanding the event to a two-day format to accommodate up to 100,000 runners in future editions.