APRIL 29 — 2026 seems to be the year of running sensations. 

First, Australian teenager Gout Gout smashes 100m and 200m records, inviting comparisons with Usain Bolt. Then last month Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo broke the world half-marathon record. 

And last Sunday? Kenya’s Sebastian Sawe showed the world it’s humanly possible to run a marathon (42km) in under two hours.

The London Marathon was Sawe’s fourth full marathon, and he won all four. But this last one was special.

Sawe ran a literally world-beating 1:59:30 at the London Marathon last week, being the first man to complete a sub two-hour marathon under race conditions (see note 1). 

The breath-taking fun fact is that Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha also broke the two-hour barrier with a time of 1:59:41 in his debut (!) marathon.

In case anyone’s wondering what the “fuss” is all about, what Sawe and Kejelcha did — when drilled down to its details — appear nothing short of super-human. 

I mean, have you ever tried running 400 metres in less than two minutes? That’s about one lap around a stadium track. 

About once a week I run at my apartment’s track which measures about 400 metres. I usually manage to finish the loop in about 1 minute 40 seconds by which time my lungs have nearly collapsed and I’m about two steps from the ICU. 

I kid you not even doing ONE lap of 400 metres running as fast as my body can push itself leaves me half-dead. Now, consider the fact that Sawe ran 2.49 minutes per kilometre (which translates to just under a minute per 400 metres) — and he did this 42 times!!

Or, he ran 100 metres at a 17-second pace and he did it 422 times. It’s absolutely insane.

A Son of Nandi

Then again, when you look at Sawe’s brutal Kenyan training regimen it would appear that running under two hours would be just a matter of time (pun intended). 

Like practically every elite Kenyan runner, Sawe hails from Nandi County, Kenya’s world-class running highlands. 

If Kashmir produces top-quality rugs and Cremona has the best violin-makers in the world, then Nandi churns out great marathon runners. Indeed, almost the whole Kenya Rift Valley area is famous for producing champions because of the altitude, rolling terrain, and strong running culture. 

Seven days a week Sawe’s routine involves getting up at 6am, run 10-25 kilometres before sunrise, makan, gym, afternoon workout, dinner, lights out at 9pm. Rinse and repeat the next day.

The final six weeks before the London Marathon saw him preparing with a 10-day cycle which involved four days of 25-40 kilometre runs, two days of short interval runs and hill repeats and four days of lighter recovery runs. 

In those weeks, he ran at least 200 kilometres per week, with one week reaching 241 kilometres.

But there’s a humble and simple side to Sawe. His pre-run breakfast was simply two slices of bread with honey and tea. After his win he just had water, rice and a piece of chicken for dinner. None of that champagne stuff.

He used the simplest entry-level watch from Garmin with only basic features. But the tech humility stops there as he wore the ultra-light Adidas Adizero Pro Evo 3, a super-shoe supposedly weighing less than 100 grams. 

Religious about fairness and integrity, Sawe and his team asked to be tested all the time. His sponsor put up US$50,000 (RM197,625) to the Athlete Integrity Unit. The tests are run independently, no advance notice; Sawe went through 25 drug tests in two months.

Because of people like Sawe and Kejelcha, the joke about a PhD being a marathon and not a sprint doesn’t apply anymore. Speed is now irreversibly on the table.

Note 1: In 2019 Eliud Kipchoge broke the two-hour barrier (clocking in at 1:59:40) but that was under optimised conditions (weather, straight road, etc.) with a laser-emitting pace car and multiple world-class pace-makers in front of him to reduce the “air drag” and so on. That project was sponsored by Nike. Sawe, without the optimised set-up, was faster by 10 seconds and wore Adidas.

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.