From super shoes to bread with honey – the man who made London Marathon history | UK News

Kenyan runner Sabastian Sawe became the first person to break the two-hour barrier in an official marathon on Sunday, smashing the men’s world record by 65 seconds.

Sawe defended his 2025 title, crossing the line after one hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds. He beat Ethiopian debutant Yomif Kejelcha by 11 seconds, who also finished under two hours, with Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda finishing third in two hours and 28 seconds.

All three were faster than the previous official world record of two hours, 35 seconds set by the late Kelvin Kiptum at the Chicago Marathon in 2023, while Sawe’s time was also 10 seconds faster than the unofficial one hour, 59 minutes and 40 seconds set by Eliud Kipchoge in a 2019 exhibition.

Sawe was awarded £40,000 for finishing first and also picked up additional bonuses – for finishing under the 2:02:00 mark, breaking the world record and the London Marathon course record – worth an estimated £223,000.

“I think I’ve made history today in London, and for the new generation (it shows) to run a record is possible,” Sawe said after his win. “It depends on the preparation you had and the discipline you had, so for me, I think I have shown them that nothing is impossible.”

Here are some astonishing facts about Sawe and his preparation for race day.

Who is Sabastian Sawe?

The 31-year-old, born in Kenya’s Rift Valley to a maize farmer father and promising sprinter mother, was a successful competitor in half marathons before entering his first marathon.

Sawe won the 2024 Valencia Marathon in two hours, two minutes and five seconds, followed by the 2025 London Marathon, where he finished in two hours, two minutes and 27 seconds.

Last September, he crossed the finish line of the Berlin Marathon with a time of two hours, two minutes and 16 seconds, a fast time despite temperatures over 20 degrees, with experts saying Sawe would have been even faster in more favourable conditions.

What were his London Marathon split times?

Sawe’s average speed at the London Marathon was 21.17kph (13.16mph) or 2:50 per km (4:33 per mile).

To illustrate just how fast this is: the maximum speed on most treadmills is 20-22kph, and Sawe held this pace for nearly two hours.

Even more impressive is that Sawe ran quicker as the race went on, with him and runner-up Kejelcha pulling away from the rest of the top field at around 30km.

With splits of 13:54 and 13:42 for the final two full 5km segments, Sawe finished his race with a sprint to the finish line, breaking clear of Kejelcha in the last two kilometres.

Ultra-light £450 ‘super shoes’

Sawe accomplished his feat wearing Adidas’ Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 trainers, which have been hailed as a “super shoe” for their record-breaking weight of just 97 grams, which Adidas says is 30% less than its predecessor.

After the race, Sawe held up his £450 trainer with “WR” and “sub 2” written on it in black marker, highlighting his confidence and his abilities – and trust in the kit.

Even before defending his title, Sawe predicted the shoe – using responsive foam, carbon-plated soles and ultra-light components – could be a record-breaking pair.

Since launching in April 2025, Adidas’ Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 shoes were worn for six marathon major wins.

London Marathon runner-up Kejelcha also wore the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 trainers, as did Ethiopian Tigst Assefa, who broke her own women-only marathon world record with 2:15:41. The only one quicker was Paula Radcliffe with 2:15:25 in 2003 when the London Marathon was a mixed race.

Regular doping tests

Sawe has been on a mission to prove his races are clean after Kenya was declared a non-compliant nation by the World Anti-Doping Agency in light of several doping scandals around the 2016 Rio Olympics, with more than 140 Kenyan runners sanctioned for doping offences since then.

Last year, Sawe and his team at Adidas approached the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), volunteering him for a strict regime of extra drug tests – 25 of them, all unannounced – before he won the Berlin Marathon.

Training regime

His coach, Italian Claudio Berardelli, told Runner’s World Sawe’s typical 10-day training cycle involves a long run (progressing from 25km on gravel to 40km on asphalt), two days of 20km runs in the morning and 10km runs in the afternoon, a short interval session between 8-16km, a long interval session between 18-25km, 12-25 reps of 80m hill runs, and recovery runs inbetween.

Mr Berardelli added that before race day, Sawe will do two 40km runs, which he completed in 2:08 and 2:04 before last year’s London Marathon.

Super-charged food

Sawe revealed in a news conference that he ate two slices of bread with honey and tea before his record-breaking London Marathon feat.

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During the race, Sawe was fuelled by Swedish sports nutrition company Maurten, which told Citius Mag his fuelling plan involved two different gels – carbohydrate and sodium bicarbonate.