{"id":33415,"date":"2026-04-30T16:28:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T14:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=33415"},"modified":"2026-04-30T16:28:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T14:28:26","slug":"kenya-celebrates-sawe-after-landmark-marathon-performance","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/kenya-celebrates-sawe-after-landmark-marathon-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya celebrates Sawe after landmark marathon performance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Kenyan athlete Sabastian Sawe has returned home to a hero\u2019s welcome after making history as the first runner to complete a marathon in under two hours in official race conditions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The 31-year-old was met with cheers, dancing and celebrations in Nairobi following his record-breaking run at the London Marathon.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Sawe stopped the clock at 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds, shaving more than a minute off the previous world record.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He was later honoured by President William Ruto, who described the achievement as a remarkable moment in human endurance. Sawe also received national recognition and financial rewards.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Speaking after the feat, Sawe said the milestone was not just personal, but one he shares with Kenya, as he looks ahead to pushing even further in the sport.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":33042,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-33415","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Kenyan athlete Sabastian Sawe has returned home","published_date":"2026-04-30 16:27:53","news_description":"Kenyan athlete Sabastian Sawe has returned home","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33415","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\/33415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33416,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33415\/revisions\/33416"}],"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=33415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=33415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}