At Sunday’s London Marathon two runners also managed to break the dream limit of two hoursthe winner Sabastian Sawe became the new world record holder with 1 hour 59 minutes 30 seconds, while Yomif Kejelcha, completing the first marathon of his life, came second with 1:59:41. In 2019, Eliud Kipchoge already proved that it is possible to run 42.195 kilometers within two hours, but he ran under prepared conditions, ignoring the official athletics rules. With that said, since then the only question has been when the big breakthrough will occur even in a competition.
As is customary in other sports, in athletics, dream boundaries are set from time to time, which are then often made unreasonably mystical. For a long time, running a mile (1,609 meters) under four minutes was thought to be impossible, until in 1954 Roger Bannister proved that it was indeed possible. The British athlete also ran under special conditions, he was helped by pacemakers, but was soon followed by others, and he managed the four-minute mile in competition. Today, I like that four minutes was the low bar, the current world record is 17 seconds off, and more than 2,300 runners have times under four minutes, including high schoolers. This does not diminish Bannister’s role in the slightest, according to many, it was not his physical performance that was impressive, but the fact that he managed to break down a mental barrier, which opened the door for those who came after him.
The Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge could also ascribe a similar role to himself, the runner who sometimes appeared in the role of an almost esoteric philosopher often stated that people really have no limits. In 2017, the epoch-making, long-unbeaten marathon runner also ran the 42 kilometers in 2:00:25 in a well-planned attempt, and two years later he stopped the clock at the finish line at 1:59:40. In these experiments, seconds were saved for Kipchoge mainly by sending refreshments from the bike and by alternating between rest and sprint runners, which provided a wind shield. Such help is not possible in a traditional race, but most people would have bet that he will be the first to finish within two hours even under official conditions. In 2018, he ran a world record of 2:01:39, on which he carved another 30 seconds in 2022, bringing the breakthrough even more within reach. By this time, Kipchoge was becoming more and more vulnerable in his races, he had health problems, his speed – probably also due to his age – was worn out, so someone else was waiting for the opportunity to break the record under two hours.
The claimant to the throne quickly applied, in 2023 Kelvin Kiptum He clocked 2:00:35 at the Chicago Marathonand the dream limit was really within arm’s reach. Kiptum was only 23 years old when he achieved the world record, and experts saw the possibility of further ascent in his rapidly rising career. The Kenyans, who did a formidable training job, didn’t have another chance to prove themselves because He died in a car accident in early 2024. “It wasn’t about whether Kelvin would be the first person to break two hours, it was about how fast he would do it,” his running mate Benson Kipruto said of him.
It seemed that with the death of Kiptum, the possibility of a marathon under two hours had disappeared for a long time, because the elite field is getting denser and the average times are improving, but since the world record, only one athlete has been able to finish within 2 hours and 2 minutes. Then came Sawe, who, if less stormy than Kiptum, rose to become one of the greatest.
The now 31-year-old Kenyan was under the radar for a long time. Sawe comes from a farming familyand like many other African runners, he built his endurance by running to school. His speed was noticed there as well, but Sawe was not enthusiastic about competing with others, he often hid when the school competitions were held. With the encouragement of a teacher and the help of one of his uncles, Abraham Chepkirwok, he stayed with running, his helpers believed that it was his future and that he could earn money from it. Chepkirwok was the top 800 meter runner in Uganda, and he guided Sawé towards middle distance running, he thought the boy had talent for it. That he could be more successful in long-distance running was revealed by chance: they arrived late to one of the races, and he could only start at 5,000 meters. He had no experience at this distance, but to his great surprise he ran the best time of the day without any kind of warm-up. Even with this performance, he only went to dozens in Kenya, managers and agents did not contact him to compete abroad.
Sawe in a half marathon in Berlin in 2023 – Photo: Andreas Gora / picture alliance / Getty Images
His family tried to convince him to give up running and take a job with the police, but Sawe stubbornly insisted that he would make the breakthrough one day. After a tendon rupture and the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic, this became more distant, but in the end he was right.
Chepkirwok rushed to his aid and, through his connections, arranged for Sawe to leave Iten, one of Kenya’s biggest high-altitude training camps where hundreds are trained, and join a group led by Italian coach Claudio Berardelli. The runner experienced this change as a rebirth, his injury was treated with modern methods and he was impressed by the professionalism in training planning. Berardelli warned him to be patient when he was not yet competitive after his injury, but after he recovered, his coach already saw him as a world class player.
Sawe appeared as a street runner in 2022 and began to collect his victories in international, but not the most prestigious, half-marathons. In 2023, he already became the world champion of the track, and he consistently clocked times of around 58-59 minutes over the 21-kilometer distance. Berardelli’s meticulously structured training program helped him to be successful, in which, in addition to running, physical therapy and strengthening the runner’s muscles are also emphasized. According to his physical therapist, his muscles are now as flexible and strong as those of a 5K runner. Although already living in prosperity, Sawe insists on spartan conditions, enrolling in training camps for weeks where four people share a room and sleep on bunk beds with their training partners. His average weekly ration is 200 kilometers, but he also does 241 kilometers a few times.
“Physiologically, Sabastian should definitely be good. But because of his character and his attitude, all the details come together perfectly. I am still discovering who Sawe is. He is an exceptional person. He has a very positive energy, but at the same time he is so humble. In the 22 years since I have been coaching in Kenya, I thought I had seen almost everything, but then Sabastian started to show me something that I thought was almost impossible” – Berardelli said about him after the record.
He ran his first marathon in December 2024 on the Valencia track, which is also considered very fast, and won with a remarkable time of 2:02:05. Afterwards, he said that he was even too slow in the first half of the distance. Then last year he let go of half marathons and focused only on marathon running, collecting two big trophies. He won in London and in Berlin in September. The latter with 2:02:16, which he expected to be a better time, he wanted to beat Kipchoge’s course record, and the world record was also on his mind, but the 24-degree heat was not ideal for that. For marathon runners, temperatures below 10 degrees are more favorable for peak performance.
Sawe was aware that his results could be questioned, based on the fact that in recent years, Kenyan long-distance runners have failed due to doping or deviations in their biological passports, so he tried to avoid such accusations. As an elite athlete, he can be tested at any time, but he was not satisfied with random or post-competition doping tests. Before last year’s Berlin Marathon, he agreed with an organization called the Athletic Integrity Unit that he would be checked 25 times in the two months before the race. The runner passed these tests and achieved similarly good times as before, dispelling the suspicions. It has not been tested as often this year, but it is still one of the most tested long-distance runners.
On Sunday in London, Sawe was able to run in much better conditions than in Berlin, and in the second half of the distance dictated a frighteningly strong pace, completing the second 21 kilometers in 59:01. Of course, it’s also the best part time ever. Preliminary evaluations considered Jacob Kiplimo from Uganda to be Sawe’s biggest rival, he could not keep up the dizzying pace, but coming in third, he still ran a time better than the previous world record (2:00:28). On the other hand, Kejelcha, who completed the first marathon of his life, followed Sawe like a shadow until the last kilometers, who afterwards was grateful to the Ethiopian for spurring him to such a performance.
“I had the courage to give it more, even when the pace was high. I didn’t care, I was ready for it,” said the record holder. His coach said that the high-carbohydrate gels he took as a refresher contributed to his success, while Sawé was asked what he ate for breakfast before his run: he answered two slices of bread, honey and tea.
The classiness of Yomif Kejelcha is also unquestionable, but if we look back at his career so far, he did not break the pattern: the Ethiopian was already second in several major competitions. He lost two World Cup finals at 10,000 meters, he came second in the World Championship at 5 kilometers on the street, and he also came second in the Valencia half marathon, setting an Ethiopian record. His track was much more clear than Sawé’s, he has been among the top runners in the world for at least ten years, and the runner who once won the world championship title on the 3,000-meter covered track slowly moved towards longer distances.
Yomif Kejelcha, Sabastian Sawe and Jacob Kiplimo on the podium after the London Marathon – Photo: John Walton / PA Images / Getty Images
Long-distance running records are not only about the athletes, but also about their shoes. Nike exploded in 2016 with the so-called super shoes, but it has more and more competitors, and now Adidas seems to be ahead of the game in terms of developments. Both Sawe and Kejelcha wore the latest model, the lightest racing shoe ever, the 97-gram Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3, as did Tigst Assefa, who also achieved the women’s world record. It is possible that this shoe, sold at a price of 500 dollars, is in the thick of it within two hours.
After the breakthrough of Sawe and Kejelcha, the only question is whether, like Bannister, they have opened the door for others and whether the results within two hours can become the standard. We will probably get an answer to this on the fast courses of the autumn marathon season (Berlin, Chicago) or in Valencia in December.
It is not yet known where the limit is, but according to Berardelli, Sawe is not even at the top, he can even go below 1:59. “Sabastian has not yet reached his maximum potential. This was his fourth marathon, and if you look at the long-term adaptation, which is a time-consuming process, I think Sabastian has not yet reached that level,” he said.
Even if he doesn’t break new records, he can continue Kipchoge’s legacy: he has won all four of his marathons so far, which shows his exceptional physical and mental preparation.
