Sabastian Sawe’s astonishing world marathon record of one hour 59 minutes and 30 seconds at Sunday’s London Marathon was fuelled by running 150 miles a week, wearing the lightest super shoes in history and a pre-race breakfast of bread and honey, the Kenyan and his team have revealed.
With an estimated 800,000 watching in the capital, the 31-year-old became the first man to run a sub-two-hour marathon in an official race as he powered home in the second half of the race to shatter the world record.
Afterwards, Sawe said he immediately realised that he had created a moment that would never be forgotten. “I have made history today in London,” he said. “For me, I have shown that nothing is not possible. It’s something that will remain in my mind for ever.
“I had courage to push even when the pace was so fast,” he added. “I was not bothered because I was ready for it. The crowd helped me a lot because they were cheering and calling my name and feeling strong. The world record today is also because of them.”
Meanwhile, Sawe’s coach Claudio Berardelli hailed his athlete as a “special one”, as he revealed the secrets behind his success – including being even fitter than in Berlin in September when the heat had scuppered his previous world record attempt.
“In the last six weeks he was averaging 200km (125 miles) and above a week, while the peak was 241km (150 miles),” said Berardelli. “I knew he was super-good for Berlin, but he couldn’t express himself because of the conditions. But when I started to see him running the way he ran before London, I was like, hey, something special might come out.”
Berardelli also said that Sawe had been helped by the new Adidas Pro Evo 3s, which are not only faster but are the first super shoe under 100 grams, as well as by using carbohydrate gels from Maurten, which help athletes feel stronger in the final stages.
“There is no doubt we are in the new era of marathon running because of the shoe and proper fuelling,” he added. “So we are super-glad to Adidas and Maurten. They have come to Kenya so many times to support us, because all of us realise that Sabastian was not just a good one, but he’s a special one.
“Definitely physiologically, Sabastian has to be a good one. But all the pieces come together perfectly, because of his attitude, because of his character. I’m still in the process of discovering who Sawe is. He is an exceptional human being. He has such a positive energy, but he’s so humble at the same time.
“In 22 years I’ve been coaching in Kenya I thought I’d seen pretty much everything, but then Sabastian started to show me something which I thought was almost impossible.”
And scarily, Berardelli believes that Sawe could run under 1:59 in a faster course such as Berlin or Chicago. “I would say yes, it is possible,” he added. “Sabastian hasn’t reached his maximum potential. It was only his fourth marathon, if we think of long-term adaptations, which is a process requiring time, I believe Sabastian has not reached this yet.”
Steve Cram, the former 1500m world champion and record holder, also hailed Sawe’s performance commentating for the BBC – and compared it to Sir Roger Bannister breaking the four-minute mile barrier.
“Absolutely incredible,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like that. What a finish. That you would say is unbelievable – but we have just seen it happen. None of us ever thought we would see that, especially in London. I’m lost for words. Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile. People thought no human being could run that for the mile but he did.”
