Sabastian Sawe Runs the First Official Sub-Two-Hour Marathon

1:59:30 in London — not an exhibition, not a lab-paced time trial, a real record-eligible marathon under two hours for the first time in history.

By Miles Ashworth · 27 Apr 2026 · 1 min read · United Kingdom edition

Sabastian Sawe at the Berlin Marathon, 21 September 2025. Photo: Leonhard Lenz, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0).

Kenya's Sabastian Sawe won the 2026 London Marathon in 1:59:30, becoming the first person ever to break two hours in an official, record-eligible marathon. It's a different milestone from Eliud Kipchoge's famous 1:59:40 in Vienna in 2019 — that run used rotating pacers and wasn't run under competition rules, so it was never recognised as a world record. Sawe's was, run in open competition, and it beat the previous official record by 65 seconds.

That previous record belonged to fellow Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum, who ran 2:00:35 at the 2023 Chicago Marathon — the closest anyone had come to the barrier — before he was killed in a car crash in February 2024, aged 24, without ever getting the chance to chase it himself.

Sawe dedicated the win to him directly: "He inspired many to work hard and break the record. From the hard work he put in and the discipline he had I am sure he is proud of what I have done." The following day, still absorbing it, he told reporters simply: "Nothing is impossible. Everything is possible."

The two-hour marathon had been treated as sport's version of the four-minute mile — a real physiological question, not just a round number — since long before Kipchoge's own unofficial attempt. Sawe's run finally answers it under the conditions that actually count.