<\/p>\n
After years of global obsession, lab\u2011backed experiments and near\u2011misses, the marathon\u2019s ultimate barrier finally fell as Sawe obliterated the world record previously \u200cheld by the late Kelvin Kiptum, who set a time of 2:00:35 at the Chicago Marathon in October 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia stayed on Sawe’s heels over much of the 42.195-kilometre course before fading down the final stretch to take second in his marathon debut with 1:59.41<\/span>, while<\/span> Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda took the bronze in 2:00.28, making for the most remarkable men’s marathon finish in history.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n “I am feeling good, I am happy, it’s a day to remember for me,” Sawe told the <\/span>BBC<\/span><\/em>, \u200bholding up his shoe with “world record” and “sub-2” written on it in black marker pen.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n “We started the race well. <\/span>Approaching <\/span>finishing<\/span> the <\/span>race<\/span>, I was feeling strong.<\/span> Finally reaching the finish line, I \u200bsaw the time <\/span>and<\/span> I was <\/span>so excited<\/span>.<\/span> I think today shows me a lot the <\/span>first (<\/span>time<\/span>)<\/span> for everyone, and I am so happy for today. Coming \u2060to London for the second time was so important to me <\/span>and<\/span> that’s why I prepared well for it.”<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kiptum died in a car crash in 2024 in Kenya when he was just 24 years old.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tigst<\/span> \u200bAssefa of Ethiopia broke her own <\/span>women’s only<\/span> world record en route to victory.<\/span> The 29-year-old pulled away from Kenyans Hellen Obiri and Joyciline Jepkosgei down the home stretch to cross the finish line in 2:15.41 seconds, \u200bbeating the record of 2:15.50 she set last year in London. <\/span>“I’m so happy to win <\/span>again,<\/span> I want to thank God for giving me this victory<\/span>, to<\/span> repeat my victory from last year means even more. And so the happiness I feel is just welling up inside me,” Assefa told the <\/span>BBC<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Obiri was second in 2:15.53, while Jepkosgei took the bronze in 2:15.55. <\/span>Conditions were close to ideal for fast running, with <\/span>mid\u2011teen<\/span> temperatures in London and <\/span>winds<\/span> light <\/span>to create<\/span> the platform for \u200b<\/span>the<\/span> record times.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The sub\u2011two\u2011hour marathon has been one of sport\u2019s biggest <\/span>obsession<\/span> for years, pursued through a series of highly engineered projects aimed at redefining human limits.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n –Reuters–<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":33042,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-33041","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Kenya's Sabastian Sawe shattered one of athletics\u2019 most elusive barriers on Sunday, becoming the first man to run a marathon in under two hours as he stormed to victory at the London \u200bMarathon in one hour 59 minutes and 30 seconds.","published_date":"","news_description":"Kenya's Sabastian Sawe shattered one of athletics\u2019 most elusive barriers on Sunday, becoming the first man to run a marathon in under two hours as he stormed to victory at the London \u200bMarathon in one hour 59 minutes and 30 seconds.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33043,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33041\/revisions\/33043"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=33041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}