Kamal Ghorui
For the first time in marathon history, the two-hour barrier has officially been broken.Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe became the first person to officially break the two-hour barrier in a marathon after winning the London Marathon on Sunday in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds.It was a major moment in athletics as Sawe broke the men’s world record by 65 seconds. Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha also finished under two hours, crossing the line in 1:59:41 in his first-ever marathon. Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo finished third in 2:00:28, which was also faster than the previous world record.The earlier men’s world record was 2:00:35, set by Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum in Chicago in 2023.All three runners on Sunday finished faster than that mark.Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge had run 1:59:40 in October 2019 and became the first person in recorded history to complete a marathon in under two hours.However, that time was not accepted as a world record because he used specialised shoes, standard competition rules for pacing and fluids were not followed, and it was not an open event.Sawe, who wore Adidas’ new Pro Evo 3 supershoe weighing less than 100 grams, had said before the race that he was targeting a course record or even a world record.He was part of a lead group of six runners that crossed the halfway mark in 1:00:29.Later, Sawe and Kejelcha moved ahead of the rest of the field and stayed together until the final stages, before the Kenyan made his move and pulled away to win.
