TIME100 Sports List: Sabastian Sawe and Faith Kipyegon Earn Global Recognition

Sabastian Sawe and Faith Kipyegon headline the TIME100 Most Influential People in Sports list, anchoring a powerful celebration of athletes who are fundamentally changing how we view human limits.

While the newly unveiled list honours pioneers across various global arenas, track and field has completely captured the cultural spotlight.

For decades, running an official, competitive marathon in under two hours was considered humanly impossible. That narrative changed forever at the London Marathon, courtesy of Kenya's Sabastian Sawe.

Sabastian Sawe stunned the world by winning the race in a mind-boggling 1 hour, 59 minutes, and 30 seconds. By shaving 1 minute and 5 seconds off the late Kelvin Kiptum’s official world record, Sawe became the first person in history to break the sub-two-hour barrier in a legal, record-eligible open competition.

His masterclass performance in London, where he held off intense pressure from Ethiopia's Yomif Kejelcha, shattered a psychological ceiling for humanity, cementing Sawe's position at the absolute pinnacle of global sports innovators.

Faith Kipyegon remains the absolute standard of greatness on the track. Kipyegon used the early months of the outdoor track season to reinforce her breathtaking range and peerless tactical brilliance.

She kicked off her year with a highly anticipated road debut at the Monaco Run, clocking a blistering 29:46 in the 10km to inject herself into the road-racing conversation.

Turning her attention back to the oval, Faith Kipyegon made an emphatic statement at the Shanghai Diamond League. She won the 5,000m in a world-leading time of 14:24.14, holding off a dense field of East Africa's finest in a thrilling, shoulder-to-shoulder finish.

Last year, Faith Kipyegon broke the 1500m world record again at the Prefontaine Classic, clocking an impressive 3:48.68 for the win, before winning her fifth world title in the 1500m in Tokyo.

TIME’s inclusion of Kipyegon also honours her ongoing impact as an icon for working mothers everywhere, proving that longevity and peak performance go hand in hand.

Beyond Kenya’s running royalty, the TIME100 list highlights a diverse tapestry of sports disruptors who have altered the financial and cultural gravity of their respective games.

In basketball and corporate management, Toronto Raptors executive Masai Ujiri was celebrated for his massive role in expanding basketball infrastructure across the African continent and taking over operations for the Dallas Mavericks.

Alongside him, global icons like Stephen Curry and LeBron James were recognised for continuing to redefine longevity and athlete empowerment in the modern era.

In American football, college-turned-NFL rookie quarterback Fernando Mendoza and coach Curt Cignetti made the list after engineering a stunning, historic 16-0 national championship run with Indiana University, with Mendoza further cementing his influence by donating $500,000 to multiple sclerosis research.

The combat sports world also saw major recognition. UFC Chief Executive Dana White was highlighted for transforming a once-fringe promotion into a multi-billion-dollar global juggernaut with massive media-rights futures.

Meanwhile, boxing champion Amanda Serrano was honoured for forcing major networks and historic venues to afford women's boxing the identical visibility, pay, and respect typically reserved for men.