Sabastian Sawe Predicts When His Historic Sub-Two-Hour Marathon World Record Will Be Broken

Sabastian Sawe is still basking in his historic achievement of being the first man to run an official marathon under two hours but he does not think he will retain it for long.

Sawe broke the glass ceiling when he achieved what had looked impossible by running the London Marathon under two hours, the first man to do that in an official 42km race, having clocked a scorching 1:59:30.

On the day, Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha, making his marathon debut, also did the unthinkable, stopping the clock in 1:59:41 in second place, with Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo finishing third in 2:00:28, good enough to break the world record (2:00:35) and 29 seconds under two hours.

With Kenyan Amos Kipruto finishing fourth in 2:01:39 in London and John Korir having defended his Boston Marathon title early in the week by running a personal best 2:01:52, the field of elite marathoners knocking on the door for a sub-two-hour marathon is large.

It is from this realisation that Sawe believes his historic feat could tumble as soon as this year.

“There are more guys to run faster than yesterday [London Marathon] and I hope and wish they did because it is good to have that tough competition in athletics,” Sawe said during an interview with Citius Mag’s Chris Chavez.

“Each of us is capable of running more than that and showing the world everything is possible. So I know by the end of this year, we will see a new record,” he added.

Sawe is perhaps alive to the fact that there are faster courses than London that could see other runners break his world record, especially in Berlin where nine of the last 11 world records have been broken.

Berlin’s flat course has allowed marathoners to easily break the record and it had been more of a tradition in the nine straight new marks set until Kelvin Kiptum’s 2:00:35 in Chicago in 2023 and now Sawe’s 1:59:30 in London.

It remains to be seen if Sawe’s prediction will come to fruition but there is also the Chicago Marathon in October and New York in November where another chapter of history could be written.