Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe has been celebrated as the new face of marathon history after becoming the first athlete to run an official marathon in under two hours.
Sawe clocked 1:59:30 at the London Marathon on April 26, breaking the previous world record of 2:00:35 set by the late Kelvin Kiptum in 2023. His performance made him the first runner to achieve the sub-two-hour mark in a competitive, record-eligible marathon.
The 31-year-old returned home to a hero’s welcome before being hosted by President William Ruto at State House, Nairobi, on Thursday. During the ceremony, Sawe presented Ruto with the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 shoes he wore during the record-breaking race.
Ruto praised Sawe’s achievement as a defining moment for Kenya and global athletics. He also awarded him a state reward, with The Star reporting the amount as Sh3 million. Reuters, however, reported the total reward as Sh8 million.
For Sawe, the achievement confirms a remarkable rise in road running. World Athletics lists him as a Kenyan marathon, half marathon and 10km road runner, born on March 16, 1995. Since making his marathon debut in Valencia in 2024, he has remained unbeaten in the distance, according to Reuters.
His London performance also carried symbolic weight for Kenyan athletics. Eliud Kipchoge had previously run under two hours in 2019, but that was in a controlled event and was not recognised as an official world record. Sawe’s run, by contrast, came in an official race against elite competition.
Sawe dedicated the record to Kenya, turning his personal triumph into a national celebration. His achievement places him among the country’s greatest distance runners and marks a new chapter in marathon history.
