JAKARTA - The world record for the marathon has been broken again. The achievement was recorded by a runner from Kenya, Sebastian Sawe at the 2026 London Marathon.
Sawe recorded a finish time under two hours, exactly 1 hour 59 minutes 30 seconds. With this he officially holds a new record.
"We had a very good start to the race. Getting to the finish line, I felt so strong," said Sebastian Sawe as quoted by ANTARA, Sunday, April 26.
Sawe recorded an extraordinary time of 65 seconds from the previous record held by the late Kelvin Kiptum, who recorded it at the 2023 Chicago Marathon.
Sawe's time was also 10 seconds faster than Eliud Kipchoge's 2019 record, which was not recognized as an official record because it was not done in an open competition and had a pacemaker.
The result was Sawe's second appearance at the London Marathon. He felt that his performance was the best because he had prepared for a long time.
"Coming to the London Marathon for the second time is very stressful and that's why I've prepared very well," he said.
Conditions in London were ideal, with the men's runners immediately starting the race at a very fast pace. Sawe was even under the world record pace when he reached the 10-kilometer mark, before the rhythm of the leading group of runners slowed down slightly approaching Cutty Sark.
The main competitors were still running in groups of five kilometers later, and at the half-marathon point, Sawe recorded a time of 1 hour 29 seconds.
Sawe and Yomif Kejelcha then began to leave Jacob Kiplimo, who was two seconds behind the leaders when the race entered 30 kilometers. The next five kilometers, the two leading runners widened the gap.
When it seemed only the track record would be broken, Sawe found extra speed, increased the pace, and sped up to write a new history.
This victory also made Sawe retain the London Marathon title he won in 2025.
"What I have prepared for four months has now ended with very good results," he said.
New records were also created in the women's number, when Tigst Assefa successfully defended the London Marathon title by setting a world record for the women's race of 2 hours 15 minutes 41 seconds, although this record, like Sawe's record, is still awaiting official confirmation.
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