Before yesterday, the fastest marathon ever raced was Kelvin Kiptum’s 2023 Chicago run, where the late phenom put up a 2:00:35. You might also remember Eliud Kipchoge’s 1:59:40.2, which he ran in a non-sanctioned event purpose-built to break the two hour mark. Both of those were amazing feats.

Now, however, there is a new mark. On Sunday, Sabastian Sawe of Kenya dropped an astonishing 1:59:30 in the London Marathon. This shattered the previous race record by over a minute, and even managed to beat Kipchoge’s controlled time by a solid 10 seconds. I’ve been waiting and watching for a sub-two hour marathon, and now I’m delighted to see it accomplished.

Just look at Sawe go:

A blur of Sabastian Sawe breaking the tape in 1:59:30
[Still frame from a video by FloTrack]

When writing about Eliud Kipchoge’s 2018 world record time of 2:01:39, I said:

He ran a mile in 4:38, and then did it 25 more times after that, and then still ran another 2/10ths of a mile! The mind reels.

You probably know a 4:38 mile is fast, but just how fast is it? Well, it would require laps of just 70 seconds around a 400-meter track, which I don’t believe I could manage even once. It’s also 17.5 second 100-meter dashes

Let’s check those numbers for Sabastian Sawe. He averaged 4:33.47 minute miles across the entire race. That’s just 68 seconds to get around a 400-meter track, or exactly 17 seconds on the 100-meter dash. I eventually did test sprinting 100 meters, and I managed right around 17 seconds, once. Once! Sawe just rattled off 422 of those in a row. The mind continues to reel.

So take a moment to celebrate what Sabastian Sawe just accomplished. I suspect we’ll see further records times, but he’ll always be the first to race a sub-two hour marathon. And spare a thought for Yomif Kejelcha, the Buzz Aldrin to Sawe’s Neil Armstrong. In his first marathon ever, Kejelcha’s ran a blistering 1:59:41, 54 seconds faster than the previous marathon world record. Alas, yesterday, that was only good enough for second place.