Sabastian Sawe, a world-class professional marathon runner from Kenya, made history at the London Marathon on Sunday, becoming the first athlete ever to complete a marathon in under two hours, Euronews reported.
Sawe surged to victory in a record-breaking time of 1:59:30, cutting 65 seconds off the previous men’s world record. His performance marked a major milestone in distance running, as no athlete had officially crossed the two-hour threshold in a competitive marathon before.
Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha finished second in 1:59:41, also dipping below the two-hour mark in what was his marathon debut. Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo took third place with a time of 2:00:28, which was still faster than the previous world record set by Kelvin Kiptum in Chicago in 2023.
The decisive moment in the race came after the 30-kilometer mark, when Sawe and Kejelcha broke away from the rest of the field. Sawe then made his final move in the last two kilometers, sprinting to the finish along The Mall.
In the women’s race, Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa, the fastest female marathon runner in the world, successfully defended her title, winning in 2:15:41. Her performance set a new benchmark for a women’s-only marathon. Fellow Kenyan runners Hellen Obiri and Joyciline Jepkosgei followed closely, finishing in 2:15:53 and 2:15:55, respectively.
Meanwhile, a humanoid robot completed a half-marathon in Beijing last week, setting a new world record and highlighting recent advances in China’s robotics technology. The robot, developed by Honor, finished the 21-kilometer race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, which is faster than the human record set by Kiplimo, who ran the distance in about 57 minutes.
