Sabastian Sawe wins London Marathon in 1:59:30, becoming first person to run sub-2-hour marathon in official competition
Kenyan runner Sabastian Sawe won the 2026 London Marathon in 1 hour, 59 minutes, and 30 seconds, breaking the men's world record by 65 seconds and becoming the first person to complete a marathon in under two hours in an officially sanctioned race. Second-place finisher Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia also finished under two hours at 1:59:41, while Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda broke the previous world record in third place with 2:00:28. The previous men's world record of 2:00:35 was set by Kenya's Kelvin Kiptum at the Chicago Marathon in 2023.
- CNNfirst
- Reuters+3.0 h
- NPR+6.7 h
- BBC+7.8 h
- Financial Times+9.7 h
- Al Jazeera+13.9 h
- Breitbart+13.9 h
- NY Post+14.2 h
- PBS NewsHour+36.6 h
- The Guardian+132.0 h
Broad agreement on what happened
Outlets across the spectrum land in roughly the same place: the shared language is highlighted.
“Kenya's Sabastian Sawe is first person to run sub-2-hour marathon to win in London”NPR NPR LEFT
“Sabastian Sawe of Kenya becomes first person to run a sub-2-hour marathon to win in London” · AP News, Reuters, Al Jazeera, BBC, PBS NewsHour