A legendary marathon. A Kenyan, Sabastian Sawe, made history this Sunday in the London Marathon by breaking the mythical two-hour barrier in the distance, with a historic record of 1.59:30, with which he shatters the world record of the ill-fated Kiptum.
In an exclusively female marathon, which started with the aim of improving the world record achieved by Tigst Assefa in the last edition, with 2.15:50the first group, with the main favorites, was placed behind the three hares. There they were not only Assefa, Olympic runner-up in Paris, but the Kenyans Hellen Obiri, Olympic bronze medalist, Jepkosgei and Amanang’ole.
The mild temperature and the expected decrease in humidity heralded optimal conditions for the development of the 42.195 kilometers, after the start officiated by former British athlete Mo Farah. Despite the good pace of the first 5 kilometers in women, the partial of 15:39 was first behind the one that The Ethiopian signed (15:34) on the London track in 2025 to achieve the world record.
Mo Farah starts the London Marathon
But the cadence increased significantly and the second partial, at the passage of 10 kilometersalready gave him an important ‘bite’ at the pace of a new record (31:03, compared to last year’s 31:16 at this point), with one less hare, which retired before passing that point, and with Amanang’ole going through his first physical problems.
In parallel, the men’s event began, with Sabastian Sawe as the big favorite, but with many ‘roosters’ in the running, among them Jacob Kiplimo, the Olympic champion Tamirat Tola or the debutant Yomif Kejelcha. The group passed the first part in 14:14 (5 km)
While the men set crazy times in those first sets, also at world record pace (28:35 in 10k), The focus returned to the women’s race, with 46:59 at kilometer 15. Before kilometer 30, the three female hares succumbed, so the rest of the race It was a three-way fight between Assefa, Obiri and Jepkosgei.
The London asphalt then became a chess board, in which strategy became one more piece. Assefa looked askance at his rivals asking for some collaboration, but there was not much response at first. Then it was time to pull out stripes and the Ethiopian put them on the table first.
After Obiri, with victories in the majors in Boston and New York, chose to lead the triowhich reached kilometer 40 in 2.08:27, with a projected time of 2.15:30, just 20 seconds below the world record.
And there Assefa emerged again, the one who had saved the most strength, to attack in the last meters, next to Buckingham Palace, to leave her rivals behind in a solvent sprint and add her second victory in London, again with a world record. The Ethiopian improved last year’s record, with a time of 2.15:41.
Without hares, the men’s event changed… at a record pace
Behind them, the dizzying pace of the men’s event also took its toll on the hares just before the half marathon. The group of favorites remained intact, but only one hare survived the insane cadence imposed by Sawe and company. Shortly after, on the 25th, the last cash ended up withdrawing and then history changed.
Before the 30th, Sawe and the debutant Kejelcha went up to try to break the race, a move that caught Kiplimo, Tola and Kipruto off guard, with problems responding to the attack. He tried to connect Kiplimo, current world cross country champion, but he failed to nullify the two-second advantage of his rivals.
It was then a monologue by Sawe, with Kejelcha as a luxury witness to an end to the story. The Kenyan, who has not known defeat in this distance of the marathon, accelerated looking for a victory and a legendary record, with which he not only surpassed the record set by the ill-fated Kiptum in 2023, with 2.00:35.
