{"id":921036,"date":"2026-04-27T03:41:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T03:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/921036\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T03:41:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T03:41:17","slug":"london-marathon-2026-results-sawe-in-adidas-runs-sub-2-hour-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/921036\/","title":{"rendered":"London Marathon 2026 Results: Sawe, in Adidas, Runs Sub-2-Hour Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tOn Sunday, Sabastian Sawe won the 2026 London Marathon in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds, becoming the first human being to complete 26.2 miles in a sanctioned race in less than two hours. The astonishing feat, also achieved by second-place finisher Yomif Kejelcha who ran 1:59:41, comes roughly a decade since Nike<\/a> announced its \u201cmoonshot\u201d project of helping humanity break the two-hour marathon barrier.<\/p>\n

\n\tExcept neither Kenya\u2019s Sawe nor Ethiopia\u2019s Kejelcha are sponsored by Nike. They made history wearing Adidas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe record run on Sunday still owes a debt to Nike, whose Breaking 2 project, launched in 2016, was the impetus for the development of carbon fiber running<\/a> shoes, an innovation that revolutionized elite running and has been partly responsible for the pace of record-breaking in major marathons over the last decade.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlong the way, there have been fast times, big doping busts and fierce corporate competition for the fastest humans in history. Below is a condensed timeline of distance running\u2019s supershoe era and the quest for running a marathon in less than two hours.<\/p>\n

\t\tDecember 2016 \u2014 Breaking 2 Unveiled<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIn December 2016, Nike said a trio of its top pro marathoners would forgo major spring road races to instead take part in a race controlled and engineered by Nike with the intent to break two hours in the marathon. The reigning men\u2019s world record at the time was 2:02:57, set by Kenya\u2019s Dennis Kimetto in 2014. The sportswear giant said it had begun engineering marathon-specific footwear as far back as 2013 for this purpose. An early such prototype, worn by Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya at the 2015 Berlin Marathon, infamously malfunctioned<\/a> during the race, costing him the world record.<\/p>\n

\t\tMay 2017 \u2014 Breaking 2\u2019s Narrow Miss<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tKipchoge, then the reigning Olympic marathon champion, ran 26.2 miles at the Nike event in 2 hours, 25 seconds\u2014better than the world record, though falling short of the \u201cmoonshot\u201d goal. The race was not eligible for record status as it wasn\u2019t subject to drug testing or pacing rules in place at other major marathons. But it was a first major showcase of Nike\u2019s carbon fiber running footwear, the Nike ZoomX Vaporfly 4%, which would later go on sale for $250.<\/p>\n

\t\tOctober 2019 \u2014 Kipchoge\u2019s Unofficial 1:59:40<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tKipchoge would go on to break the legal world record at the 2018 Berlin Marathon, running 2:01:39. Still in the shape of his life, he took part in a second stunt marathon aimed at going sub-2, this time sponsored by chemical giant Ineos. At a park in Vienna, Kipchoge became the first human being to run 26.2 miles in under two hours, recording 1:59:40 in the unsanctioned race.<\/p>\n

\t\tJanuary 2020 \u2014 \u2018Supershoes\u2019 Regulated<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tBy the turn of the decade, the running world was so convinced of the propulsive advantage of carbon fiber running shoes, nicknamed \u201csupershoes,\u201d that governing body World Athletics convened a technical group to assess whether they should be banned in competition. Indeed, so advantageous were the Nike-engineered sneakers<\/a> that some pro runners for other brands began competing<\/a> in VaporFlys with the swoosh blacked out.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn early 2020, World Athletics announced regulations<\/a> on running footwear in sanctioned races: The shoes could not contain more than one carbon fiber plate, must have a limit to the stack height of the running sole and must be available for purchase by the general public before being used in competition.<\/p>\n

\t\tJune 2020 \u2014 Adidas Releases Carbon Fiber Shoe<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile the Tokyo Olympics were postponed due to the pandemic, competing running shoe brands began to catch up to Nike with their own carbon fiber products. Adidas marketed its first such shoe, the Adizero Adios Pro, with carbon fiber \u201crods\u201d to mimic the human foot\u2019s bone structure. Puma, Brooks, Under Armour, Saucony, On, Hoka and other companies all begin releasing their own carbon fiber footwear models as well.<\/p>\n

\t\tFall 2023<\/strong> \u2014 New World Marathon Records<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWith the \u201csupershoe\u201d era in full swing, both Nike and Adidas notched new world records in the men\u2019s and women\u2019s marathons, respectively. Kenya\u2019s Kelvin Kiptum runs 2:00:35<\/a> at the Chicago Marathon in October, wearing a prototype of Nike\u2019s Alphyfly 3<\/a>, while Ethiopia\u2019s Tigst Assefa runs 2:11:53 at the Berlin Marathon in September, wearing Adidas.<\/p>\n

\t\t2025 \u2014 Sawe Requests More Drug Tests<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIn his own pursuit of a record run, Sawe aimed to dispel the cloud of suspicion that\u00a0 tends to accompany fast marathon times. His countrywoman Ruth Chepngetich, winner of the 2024 Chicago Marathon in a world-record 2:09:56, was hit with a three-year ban for doping in 2025<\/a>. Concurrently, Sawe and his sponsor, Adidas, asked the elite marathoning anti-doping authority, the Athletics Integrity Unit, to ramp up his own testing.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn light of recent and notable doping cases concerning Kenyan athletes, Sawe wants to send a strong message, that while doping is definitely a huge issue in Kenyan sport, there are still many\u00a0 clean and talented athletes who can do incredible things, based on hard work and their own two\u00a0legs,\u201d according to a press release<\/a> from Sawe\u2019s agent in September 2025.<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to Letsrun.com<\/a>, Adidas paid the AIU $50,000 to increase drug testing of Sawe leading into his victory at the 2025 Berlin Marathon, when he ran 2:02:16. That regimen included 25 tests in two months.<\/p>\n

\t\tApril 2026<\/strong> \u2014 Sawe First to Break 2 Hours in Sanctioned Marathon<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the morning of April 26, Sawe finally became the first human to run under two hours in a sanctioned, world record-eligible major marathon, breaking the tape in 1:59:30. Kejelcha finished just 11 seconds behind. The Kenyan and Ethiopian both competed for Adidas in the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a rare acknowledgement of an achievement by its top rival, Nike on Sunday alluded to Sawe\u2019s record breaking run on the company\u2019s Instagram page. \u201cThe clock has been reset. There is no finish line,\u201d the company wrote<\/a>, tagging the post\u2019s location in London with an accompanying statement by Kipchoge.\u00a0<\/p>\n