Marathon running crossed a threshold athletes had debated for decades when Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe finished the London Marathon on April 26 in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds — the first officially ratified sub-two-hour marathon in history.
Sawe, 31, shattered the previous men’s world record by 65 seconds. That mark of 2:00:35 was set by Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum at the 2023 Chicago Marathon. Sawe surged into record territory over the final 10 kilometers, with only Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha able to stay close. Kejelcha finished in 1:59:41 for second, becoming the second athlete to run sub-two hours in an official race. Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo took third in 2:00:28, also faster than Kiptum’s former record, meaning the entire podium surpassed what had been the all-time standard that same morning.
The ratification matters. Eliud Kipchoge ran 1:59:40 during the 2019 INEOS 1:59 Challenge in Vienna, but World Athletics did not count it as a record because it relied on rotating pacing teams outside standard rules. Sawe’s run came in an open mass-participation event that met every eligibility requirement. Kipchoge praised Sunday’s results as proof that human potential is still being discovered, and credited the Vienna effort as the demonstration that the barrier was reachable.
Sawe ran the second half of the London course in 59:01. He also won London in 2025 in 2:02:27, trimming nearly three minutes from his own course best in one year.
In the women’s race, Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa defended her London title in 2:15:41, breaking her own women’s-only marathon world record of 2:15:50 from London 2025. Kenya’s Hellen Obiri ran a personal best of 2:15:53 for second, and compatriot Joyciline Jepkosgei took third in 2:15:55 — the first time three women had broken 2:16 in a single marathon.
Wofford College’s cross country and track programs, which train and compete at Milliken Park in Spartanburg, now have a new ceiling to reference in the sport. Wofford hosts the Eye Opener Invitational at Milliken Park each August, part of a distance running tradition reshaped by the 1:59:30 barrier from the elite level down to collegiate programs competing in the Southern Conference.
