Kenya's Sabastian Sawe poses with Olympic Ring sun-glasses after winning the London Marathon, in London, April 27, 2026. -

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Kenya

Kenyan marathon record-breaker Sabastian Sawe received a celebratory welcome upon his return to Nairobi on Wednesday after winning the London Marathon.

Sawe, the first person to break the fabled two-hour barrier in the marathon, was greeted by his parents and Sports Minister Salim Mvurya on his arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

Sawe pulled off the feat, which was long considered unthinkable, on Sunday when he won in a time of 1 hour, 59 minutes, 30 seconds.

He went into London as defending champion and beat last year's time by almost 3 minutes. He bettered the previous men’s world record by 65 seconds.

"I am happy to celebrate this win with you. I didn't expect it would be this way. I am very grateful. For everything we did in London, I didn't do it for myself alone, I did it for all of us," said Sawe, while speaking at a press conference alongside Mvurya at the airport.

His coach, Claudio Berardelli, said he knew the athlete was in "extremely good shape."

"I knew that maybe he could have ran fast, but I was probably not expecting a sub-2 hours. But he was really in good shape. Much better than Berlin last year," said Berardelli.

Sawe crossed the finish line wearing a new model of carbon-plated shoes that weigh on average just 97 grammes.

But Samson Nyamweya, who turned out to celebrate Sawe's return, says that breaking records takes more than shoes alone:

"As a runner, what I know is that the type of shoes and training helps. But also, if you train well, you can run barefoot and still win. Still, the type of shoe helps. In his case, the shoe and mostly the intense practice really helped him achieve his victory.”

Sawe was introduced to professional running by his uncle, middle-distance Ugandan runner Abraham Chepkirwok, who was an Olympian himself.

Kenya marathon record-breaker Sawe receives hero's welcome

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