Kenyan runner Sebastian Sawe talks to Kenya’s President William Ruto, after Sawe broke the men’s marathon world record at the 2026 London Marathon to become the first person to run a marathon in under two hours in an official race and setting a new world record with a time of 1:59:30, at the State House in Nairobi, Kenya, April 30, 2026. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi
Kenya welcomed home a legend on Wednesday night when Sebastian Sawe’s plane touched down at Nairobi’s international airport to a traditional water-cannon salute — the kind of reception reserved for those who have done something truly extraordinary. Sawe had. The 31-year-old had just become the first person in history to complete an official marathon in under two hours.
His winning time of 1:59:30 at the London Marathon on Sunday did not merely clip the two-hour barrier — it demolished it, slashing more than a minute off the previous world record of 2:00:35, set by fellow Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum at the Chicago Marathon in October 2023. Kiptum, widely regarded as one of the greatest marathoners of all time, died in a road accident in 2024, leaving the record as his enduring legacy — until Sawe came along.
Kenya’s President William Ruto gestures near Kenyan runner Sebastian Sawe, after Sawe broke the men’s marathon world record at the 2026 London Marathon to become the first person to run a marathon in under two hours in an official race and setting a new world record with a time of 1:59:30, at the State House in Nairobi, Kenya, April 30, 2026. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi
The achievement drew comparisons to another Kenyan great, Eliud Kipchoge, who broke the two-hour mark in 2019 in a specially engineered event in Vienna. That run, completed under controlled conditions with rotating pacemakers and laser-guided timing, captured the world’s imagination but was not eligible for official ratification. Sawe’s London run carries no such asterisk.
By Thursday, President William Ruto had summoned Sawe to State House in Nairobi, where he presented the athlete with 8 million Kenyan shillings — roughly $62,000 — before an audience of government and athletics officials. “You have not only broken a record. You have expanded the horizon of human potential,” Ruto told him. “You have done what many believed could not be done. You have made the impossible possible, and in so doing, you have inspired a nation and the world.”
What makes Sawe’s ascent all the more remarkable is its speed. He made his marathon debut only in December 2024, winning in Valencia on his first attempt over the distance. He has not lost a marathon race since, a record that now culminates in the most significant result in the event’s history.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah