On Sunday, Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe wrote history by becoming the first human being to run a marathon under two hours, when he won the London Marathon in 1:59:30, obliterating the previous record of 2:00:35 set by Kelvin Kiptum on October 8, 2023. He talked to Bernard Rotich on phone in German on Wednesday morning on how he achieved this feat, before boarding the plane to travel to Kenya where he was expected later in the evening
“I started my preparations in December after I was informed that I would be returning to the London Marathon. To perform well in such a huge race, you need three months of good preparation.
As usual, I have to start with a discussion with my coach Claudio Berardelli who has been instrumental in my career. He drafts a training programme that I will follow the entire period.
For London, I started, as I always do with ever Majors marathon I have entered, with loading, which basically means some doing long runs for endurance, not forgetting sessions for speed work and gym work. The helps particularly when you want to drop someone who has stuck to you.
While preparing for a big marathon, you must eat a balanced diet and that changes every day for a whole week. For instance, after training, I would take tea, boiled eggs, two slices of bread and a banana before having rice and beans for lunch, and ugali with traditional vegetables and fermented milk for dinner. This did not vary much.
Upon concluding my programme, it was time to execute what I had been doing for the four months and I went to London with one goal: to win. Though the line-up was tough, I knew it would help push me to my limit.
But let me confess that running a world record and even running under two hours was not in my mind at all.
When we started the race, I felt good in the early stages and I was looking at Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo because that is the man with whom we have competed with in many races where he could beat me or I would beat him.
Since I started running marathons, we have met once and he came in second last year when I won the London Marathon and I knew he was coming prepared to take victory away from me.
On the eve of the race, the last person I talked to was my brother Ian Cheruiyot on phone. He wished me well before I turned in for the night at 9pm at my hotel room. I then woke up at 5am and prepared my kit. I took tea and two slices of bread after applying some honey and I was good to go.
We then boarded a bus to the start line and I was calm because I trusted my preparations back at home with my training mates.
Kenya's Sabastian Sawe celebrates with a shoe after winning the men's elite race and setting a new world record with a time of 01:59:30.
Photo credit: Reuters
I didn’t know anything about Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha because he was debuting, but he ended up becoming strong and he is the one who actually pushed me and at one point, while we were running at about 35 km mark, I had concluded that it would be a sprint finish and I said to myself would do whatever I can to retain my title.
The pacemakers (Oscar Chelimo from Uganda, Andrea Kiptoo from Kenya and Nibret Melak from Ethiopia) did their assignment well. Kiptoo, my training partner, dropped at the 27km mark and it was now everybody for himself.
I continued with my pace and some of the athletes in the pack started to fall out one by one. I was feeling strong and good. When we hit the 41km mark, I noticed Kejelcha had started dropping but I didn’t want to concentrate on him so much because anything can happen in the last moments and I kept focusing on finishing strongly.
To my surprise, I didn’t know that I was under two-hour pace and I was shocked when I crossed the line and realised that I had run the race in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds. To tell you the truth, no one expected it because my target was to win again.
I went to the London Marathon just like I go for any other race that I have competed in. The only difference was that I felt I was in great shape and I was confident of retaining my title despite the top quality field.
The record came as a surprise to many people because we didn’t expect it would turn out that way in London, because records normally fall in the Berlin Marathon or Chicago Marathon, which are considered fast courses.
Kenya's Sabastian Sawe celebrates after winning the men's elite race with second place Ethiopia's Yomif Kejelcha and third place Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo.
Photo credit: Matthew Childs | Reuters
I believe that my time can be lowered, but it might take time because even Kiptum’s record took about three years to be broken. That is not something that comes that fast, but with good preparations, it is achievable.
I have a big team that was behind my success, and I have to mention some of them. My coach Claudio has been instrumental in my career and I always follow his instructions and that’s why we managed to achieve the record.
My family has also been very much supportive with my wife Lydia Jerono, the mother of my three boys, supporting me throughout, especially when preparing for major races. My teammates, too, are part of my success because we have braved many a chilly morning together, preparing for the races. I can’t forget the entire staff at the 2Running Athletics Club in Kapsabet who always make sure we get the best during our preparations.
I also want to mention my late grandmother Esther Sitienei, who passed away in 2022, who played a crucial role in bringing me up when I was young and she moulded me into the person I am today. My parents, Simeon Sawe and Emily Sawe, have always been supportive in my career since I started running and they are part of this history.
It’s time to take a small break before getting into the next season which will start in August but I can’t confirm any race for now that I will be competing in.
It’s time to take a break before starting my training again because that is the cycle of an athlete for the entire year."
