The world of marathon running has reached a new peak in London. On Sunday, Sebastian Sawe became the first person to run a marathon in under two hours during an official competition.

The 29-year-old Kenyan stopped the clock at 1:59:30, a feat previously thought impossible in a standard race.

Shortly after the historic finish, the legendary Eliud Kipchoge took to social media to congratulate his compatriot. Kipchoge, often called the greatest marathon runner of all time, was the first to show the world the barrier could be broken.

A Dream Made Reality

Kipchoge described the day as "historical" for the sport. He praised Sawe and runner-up Yomif Kejelcha for their incredible performance. In his post, Kipchoge noted that seeing two athletes break the "magical 2-hour barrier" proved that human potential is still being discovered.

"Breaking the sub-two-hour barrier in the marathon has long been a dream for runners everywhere, and today, you’ve made that dream come true,” Kipchoge said.

Kipchoge himself famously ran 1:59:35 in Vienna in 2019 during the INEOS 1:59 Challenge. That run was a staged event and did not qualify as an official world record.

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Sawe has now achieved this milestone in a city marathon, fulfilling Kipchoge’s long-held hope that another athlete would continue the belief that "No Human Is Limited."

“During the INEOS 1:59 Challenge we showed the world that it was possible and it has always been my hope to see another athlete continue with this belief and break this magical barrier in a city marathon.”

Shattering the Record Books

Sawe’s performance did more than just break the two-hour mark. He took over a minute off the previous world record of 2:00:35, which was set by the late Kelvin Kiptum in Chicago in 2023.

Sawe has now won all four major marathons he has entered. He is also the first man to defend a London title since Kipchoge did so in 2019.

The race was highly competitive. The top three runners all finished in under 2 hours and 1 minute. Jacob Kiplimo took third place with a time of 2:00:28, which was also faster than the previous course record.

A New Standard for Endurance

Sawe’s victory was a masterclass in pacing. He and Kejelcha ran a "negative split," meaning they ran the second half of the race faster than the first. They stayed on target pace through the halfway mark before Sawe accelerated significantly after 30 kilometres.

The Kenyan athlete’s ability to get "consistently quicker as the race went deeper" made the sub-two-hour time possible. For Kipchoge, this moment serves as an inspiration for the next generation of runners to keep pushing the boundaries of what the human body can achieve.