On Sunday, April 26, 2026, at the London Marathon, Sebastian Sawe broke the marathon world record. He finished the race with an unbelievable time of 1:59:30. The record has made him the first person in the world to ever run a full official marathon (42.195 km) in under 2 hours in proper race conditions.
He beat the previous record, held by the late Kelvin Kiptum, by 65 seconds. Kenyans are excellent athletes, but this one was different for them.
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On returning home on Wednesday, April 29, Sawe got a hero’s welcome. There was a water cannon salute from the fire trucks at the airport, traditional dancers, and excited fans. His proud parents were there too to welcome him.
The celebrations didn’t stop there. On Thursday morning, April 30, Sawe was at the State House in Nairobi. He met with President William Ruto.
Ruto rewarded him with two cheques totalling KSh 8 million (about $62,000). He gave him KSh 5 million for breaking the world record and KSh 3 million for the gold medal win.
He also gave him a brand new car with custom number plates showing his historic time: 1:59:30.
In return, Sebastian Sawe gifted the President one of the actual Adidas Adizero shoes he wore while he ran the marathon.
The President, who just cleared the air on the Kenyan English versus Nigerian English, hyped him up, saying Sawe didn’t just break a record but “redrew the limits of human endurance” and showed the world what Kenyans are capable of.
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