LONDON — Sabastian Sawe of Kenya has become the first person to break the fabled 2-hour barrier in the marathon.
In a huge moment in sports history, Sawe smashed the men’s world record by 65 seconds in winning the London Marathon in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds on Sunday.
The second-place finisher, Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia, also dipped under 2 hours by crossing the line in 1:59:41 in his first-ever marathon, while Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda broke the previous world-record time — set by Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum in Chicago in 2023 — by seven seconds in finishing in 2:00:28.
A record was also set in the women’s race, with Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa pulling away with about 500 meters remaining to win in 2:15:41 to defend the title in the fastest-ever time in a women’s-only marathon.
However, it was 16 seconds slower than the course record set by Paula Radcliffe in 2003 when it was a mixed race.
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