London Marathon, Sabastian Sawe breaks two-hour barrier
Kenya's Sabastian Sawe won the 2026 London Marathon in 1:59:30, becoming the first athlete to run an official sub-2-hour marathon. Ethiopia's Yomif Kejelcha finished second in 1:59:41 and the leaders averaged about 4:34 per mile across the 26.2 miles. Between 30 and 35 kilometers they ran a 5 km split of 13:54, a midrace surge that helped secure Sawe's win and reshapes the benchmark for record-eligible marathon speed.
Sabastian Sawe of Kenya has become the first person to run a marathon in under 2 hours.
Second place was also under 2 hours, 1:59:41 by Yomif Kejelcha.
His split for the *last* mile was 4:17!
For fun context, go set a treadmill to just over 13mph and see how long you last
Back on Earth One, this would be the biggest story of the day.
I can't believe they did it. This is huge!
I can do that on a skateboard.
OMG. 🇰🇪 Sabastian Sawe becomes the first man ever to break 2 hours in a marathon (legal conditions) in 1:59:30 at the London Marathon! Yomif Kejelcha 🇪🇹 runs 1:59:41 in his DEBUT. Jacob Kiplimo 🇺🇬 takes third in 2:00:28 All under the previous WR.
He’s running faster at the END of the marathon than I would at the start of a marathon.
Imagine breaking the 2 hour mark-but not setting the world record.
Unreal! Far more newsworthy than the latest Trump assassination plot.
Watching him run is like witnessing art being made. Look how beautiful it is!
I’ve not seen anything like that! dude says. No, that’s a world record.
He doesn't even look tapped out. Superhuman.
I'm not sure I could run 100 yards at a 4:33 pace. It's amazing that a human can do it for 26 miles. apnews.com/article/mara...
Okay, I once, and only once managed a marathon in under 4 hours (just.) As I lay begging for death afterwards I had the consolation of knowing no one on Earth was twice as fast as me. Now even that's gone. Only kidding well done 👍
Heck if I *bike* 26 miles straight at 12 miles an hour it’s a herculean day. Running? Insanely impressive.
I feel like there was a thing a couple years back where they set a treadmill at world class marathon pace and regular folks couldn’t stay on for a minute?
I once celebrated breaking a 10mm. 😂 He is amazing. Just an astonishing athlete.
In a huge moment in sports history, Sabastian Sawe smashed the men's world record by 65 seconds in winning the London Marathon in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds on Sunday. n.pr/4vQBtk3
Spare a thought for the 2nd placed guy who ran 1.59.41 also breaking 2hrs and in his first ever marathon.
Two sub-two hour times? That's incredible!
Wait….so he averaged 13+ mph? That’s insane! (I did that in my head!)
My gawd a sub-2 hour marathon. That's insane.
Feel incredibly privileged to have been alive for both the first sub-4-minute mile and the first sub-2-hour marathon. And, for that matter, the first 2-metre women's high jump, the first 6-metre men's pole vault and the first 5-metre women's pole vault.
This needs explaining. Like was this a significantly flatter course than prior years, such that many people broke their personal best for London?
This is an absolute holy fuck moment in sports history