Kenyan sprinter Sebastian Sowee made history at the 46th edition of the London Marathon by becoming the first athlete to cover the marathon in less than two hours in a competitive race on Sunday (April 26th).
The 30-year-old crossed the finish line to win in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds, more than a minute faster than his late compatriot Kelvin Kiptum's previous record of 2:00:35 hours set in 2023.
Saoui was already running at a world record pace when he crossed the halfway mark in 1:00:29 hours, and was able to increase his speed in the second half of the race.
Sawi made his decisive move just before the final 10 kilometres, and only Ethiopian rookie Yomief Kigelsha was able to catch up with his start from the front.
Remarkably, Kijlshaw became the second man to run in less than two hours in race conditions, finishing second with a time of 1:59:41.
Uganda's Jacob Kiplimu, the world record holder in the half marathon, crossed the finish line faster than the previous record of Kiptum, finishing third with a time of 2:00:28 hours.
Prior to that, the focus was mostly on Sawy, last year's race winner with a time of 2:02:27 hours, who was targeting Captum's London Marathon track record of 2:01:25 hours.
In the women's race, Ethiopia's Tegest Asifa broke her own world record in the women's only category, beating Kenya's Helen Obiri and Joycelyn Gebkosege in a thrilling finish to retain her title with a time of 2:15:41.
Swiss runner Marcel Hogg won the London Marathon for the eighth time, equalling the record in the elite men's wheelchair race, tying Britain's David Weir for the fifth consecutive victory.
Katherine Debroner also retained the women's elite title in wheelchair racing, with the Swiss overtaking American Tatiana McFadden in the closing stages.
What is a marathon?
The marathon is one of the most prominent long-distance running races in athletics, with an official internationally approved distance of 42,195 kilometers, equivalent to 26 miles and 385 yards, and the race is usually held on paved roads off the track, and is one of the most important events of the Olympics and world championships.
The name of the marathon dates back to the Battle of Marathon, which took place in 490 BC between the Greeks and the Persians, and legend has it that the Greek soldier Phidipides ran from the plain of Marathon to Athens to declare the victory of the Greeks, and after arriving and reporting the news, he fell dead from exhaustion.
To honour this incident, it was decided to adopt a running race that simulated that distance at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.
The distance of the marathon was not uniform in its beginnings, until the International Athletics Federation adopted the current distance in 1924: 42.195 km, to become the official standard applied in all races around the world, and the marathon is organized in the streets of major cities, and thousands of amateur and professional runners participate in it, and its most famous races are: the New York Marathon, Boston, London, and Berlin.
It is one of the most difficult running races, requiring high endurance, careful energy management, and advance nutrition and speed planning, and the women's marathon was first included in the Olympic Games during the 1984 Los Angeles Games, and has since become a regular part of international competitions.