What was also remarkable was that Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha and Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo, who finished second and third at Sunday’s London Marathon, respectively, also finished the race inside the previous world record of 2:00:35…reports Africa Daily Newsdesk
For the first time in history, the two-hour mark has been breached in an official marathon. At the London Marathon, Sabastian Sawe of Kenya defied the fabled barrier when he brought down the men’s marathon world record by 65 seconds on his way to winning the London Marathon in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds. The previous world record was held by Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum, who set it in Chicago in 2023, running 2:00:35.
The 31-year-old Sawe also extended his record of never losing a marathon.
What was even more remarkable was that Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha and Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo, who finished second and third at Sunday’s London Marathon, respectively, also finished the race inside the previous world record of 2:00:35. Kejelcha, who ended second, was actually running in his debut marathon.
“I am feeling good. I am happy. It’s a day to remember for me,” Sawe said after smashing the world record. “We started the race well, and approaching the end of the race, I was feeling strong, and I remember my fellow Ethiopian runner (Kejelcha) was so competitive. I think he helped me a lot. Finally, after reaching the finish line, I saw the time, and I was so excited.”
He continued: “First of all, I want to thank the crowds for cheering us. I think they helped a lot, because if it weren’t for them, you wouldn’t feel so loved. I think they helped a lot because their cheering makes you feel so happy and strong, and want to push. That is why I can say what happened today is not for me alone but for all of us in London.”
Sawe had won last year’s London Marathon in two hours, two minutes and 27 seconds. Before this year’s race, he was bullish about his chances of not just winning again, but beating Kiptum’s three-year-old course record of two hours, one minute and 25 seconds.
Sawe reached the halfway point of the 42.195km run in 1 hour and 29 seconds. By all conventional logic, the second half should have been slower. It is almost always the case in marathons. From that point on, it stops being about speed and becomes a question of fuel, of how long the body can hold the line before it runs empty.
But Sawe, 30, didn’t follow that script. The Kenyan held his pace deep into the race and accelerated, becoming the first person to break the two-hour barrier in an official marathon on Sunday, winning the London Marathon in 1:59:30.
The groundwork for this had been laid hours earlier: a simple breakfast of two bread slices with honey and tea, followed by a meticulously planned in-race strategy that delivered up to 115 grams of carbohydrates per hour, an amount once considered difficult for the body to tolerate.
In a marathon, long before the legs give way, the body faces a subtler crisis. Glycogen, the stored carbohydrate that powers sustained effort, is finite. At an elite pace, it drains fast. And when it’s gone, the slowdown is abrupt, punishing. Runners call it “the wall”, but it’s really a fuel failure. The obvious solution, to consume more carbohydrates mid-race, has always come with a catch. Carbs help build energy, but the gut can only handle so much. Push that limit, and the stomach revolts.
Sawe consumed these gels at regular intervals and pushed those very boundaries. But with a difference: the technology in the gels he consumed altered how the body absorbed the carbohydrates.
Sawe’s run was built on this principle of controlled, continuous fuelling. Sports scientists from Maurten developed Sawe’s fuelling protocol over the last 12 months, during which they made six trips to Kenya and spent 32 days with him. They also developed a personalised gut-training plan and a race-day protocol to enhance Sawe’s GI tolerance for carbohydrate intake on a race day.
