The 2025 London Marathon delivered two pieces of history on Sunday, as Kenya’s Sebastian Sawe became the first athlete to run a ratified sub-two-hour marathon in an official competition, while Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa smashed her own women’s-only world record to defend her title.
Sawe, the defending 2024 men’s champion, entered the race openly predicting a landmark performance, and he delivered beyond expectations, crossing the finish line in an official time of 1 hour 59 minutes 30 seconds. The 31-year-old Kenyan’s achievement rewrites marathon history: while Eliud Kipchoge ran a 1:59:40 in an experimental 2019 event, that performance was never ratified as an official world record because it broke standard competition rules for pacing, fluids and event format, with specialized non-regulation equipment. Sawe’s run, by contrast, complies with all official rules and stands as the first recognized sub-two-hour marathon in open competition.
What made Sawe’s performance even more remarkable is the depth of the field’s results: the top three men all finished inside the previous official world record of 2:00:35, set by the late Kelvin Kiptum at the 2023 Chicago Marathon. Through the first half of the 26.2-mile course, Sawe led a tight leading pack of six elite runners that included Olympic champion Tamirat Tola and Uganda’s half-marathon world record holder Jacob Kiplimo, with the group passing the halfway mark in 1:00:29, on pace to break the two-hour barrier. As the race progressed, the pack strung out, leaving Sawe and Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha, running his first ever marathon, to battle neck-and-neck through the closing miles. With just one mile remaining, Sawe made his decisive surge, pulling clear of Kejelcha to finish alone, taking a full 65 seconds off Kiptum’s previous world record. Kejelcha held on to finish second in 1:59:41, the fastest debut marathon in history, while Kiplimo took third place in 2:00:28.
After crossing the line, a visibly elated Sawe shared his confidence going into the race, held on a mild warm spring day in London. “I am feeling good. I am so happy. It is a day to remember for me,” Sawe told reporters, noting his target time had even been scribbled on his running shoe before the start. “Coming to London for the second time was so important to me and that’s why I prepared well. Finally, what I had done for four months it has come today to be a good result.” Sawe ran in Adidas’s new Pro Evo 3 supershoe, which weighs less than 100 grams, and had openly teased a record attempt in pre-race media comments.
In the women’s-only race, Assefa matched Sawe’s historic performance by breaking her own world record to defend her 2024 London Marathon title. The 29-year-old Ethiopian, a reigning Olympic and world silver medalist, was locked in a tight three-way battle for the lead with Kenyan stars Hellen Obiri and Joyciline Jepkosgei through most of the race, before breaking away in the closing kilometers to cross the line in 2:15:41. Her time shaved nine seconds off the women’s-only world record she set on the same London course in 2024.
“It’s one of my plans really coming into this competition to break my own world record from last year’s race,” Assefa said after the race. “So to do that has brought me a lot of satisfaction. To repeat my victory from last year means even more. The happiness I feel is just swelling up inside me.” Obiri, a two-time 5000m world champion and 2024 Paris Olympic marathon bronze medalist, finished just 12 seconds behind Assefa to take second place in a new personal best of 2:15:53, edging out compatriot Jepkosgei by just 0.02 seconds. It is worth noting that the fastest marathon ever run by a woman in a mixed-gender race, where female runners benefit from male pacemakers, is 2:09:56, set by Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich at the 2024 Chicago Marathon.
Beyond the elite race history, the 46th edition of the London Marathon also set new records for participation and charitable giving. More than 59,000 runners were expected to complete the 42.2-kilometer course, beating 2024’s record of 56,640 finishers, which already stood as the most for any marathon in history. Organizers announced last month they are considering expanding the 2026 event to two days, which would allow up to 100,000 runners to participate. The 2025 race also raised a record £87.3 million ($118 million) for charitable causes, retaining its title as the world’s largest annual one-day fundraising event.