Sabastian Sawe answered the age-old question in 1 hour 59 minutes 30 seconds on the streets of London on Sunday morning as the 31-year old Kenyan athlete became the first man to run a sub-two-hour marathon.
However, his mind-blowingly remarkable feat, which slashed 65 seconds from the previous world marathon record set by the late Kelvin Kiptum in the 2023 Chicago Marathon, quickly morphed into a discussion on the role played by super shoes in his victory.
The last 10 years have accelerated with extraordinary assaults on the clock by middle and long distance runners, who have kicked to previously unimaginable world record and personal best times with super shoes on their feet.
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 at the London Marathon on April 26, 2026.
Photo credit: Matthew Childs | Reuters
Besides athletes, super shoes are now defining eras of long-distance running and now the stage belongs to the inimitable Sawe and his revolutionary 2026 London Marathon race day shoes, the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3.
Following his London Marathon victory, his fourth in as many 42-km races, a smiling Sawe splashed on newspaper headlines all over the world holding his race day shoe which weigh lighter than a copy of the Sunday Nation but costs an arm and a leg.
The shoe, which is the lightest running shoe ever made, weighs 97.27 grams and it costs $500 (Sh65,000). Its predecessor, the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3, weighs 138 grams. The shoes Kiptum wore – the Nike Alphafly 3 – when setting the previous world record weighed 218 grams.
Adidas unveiled their new super shoe on Thursday last week, saying “it represents the culmination of three years of cutting-edge research”.
Three days later, Sawe, Ethiopian runner Yomif Kejelcha and other athletes who raced the London Marathon wearing the shoe, validated the efficiency that Adidas hyped it would provide.
“The Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3, delivers 11 percent greater forefoot energy return, and improves running economy by 1.6 per cent compared to its predecessor - making it a record breaker before it’s even laced up,” Adidas declared.
Running economy refers to how efficiently an athlete’s body uses energy while running at a steady pace and, energy return is how efficiently the midsole foam rebounds after being compressed during a step.
Since marathon running is a brutal forward propulsion of the human body, athletes lose energy with every impact their feet make with the ground.
This energy is lost to the ground as heat, meaning the athlete needs to summon more energy to lift their feet off the ground each time.
However, super shoes ensure that minimal energy is lost on impact with the ground, and instead it is returned to the athlete as they lift their feet off the ground. That way, the athlete ends up conserving more energy for hitting the ground with, hence creating an impression that they are gliding, rather than running.
Kenya's Sabastian Sawe celebrates with a shoe after winning the men's elite race at the London Marathon in a new world record time of 01:59:30 on April 26, 2026.
“To break the world record is something I have dreamed about for a long time, and to achieve it means so much to me and to the sport of running. It reflects the hard work behind the scenes, the support of my team, and the role of innovation in helping me push beyond limits. I’m honoured to be part of a new chapter for the sport,” Sawe said after the race.
Including Sawe, four of the top five athletes in the 2026 men’s London Marathon wore the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3. They are Sawe’s training partner Amos Kipruto, and the Ethiopian duo of Yomif Kejelcha and Tamirat Tola.
World-record-breaking performance
Kejelcha, athletics’ almost man, also ran under two hours to finish second on his marathon debut with a time of 1 hour 59 minutes 41 seconds. He will probably never run a marathon with a shoe weighing more than 100 grams.
Kipruto (2:01:39) and Tola (2:02:59) were fourth and fifth respectively as the Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo gatecrashed the podium wearing Nike Alphafly 3 after also running below the previous world record to finish third with a time of 2 hours 28 seconds.
The Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 also produced a world-record-breaking performance in the women’s race. The Ethiopian Tigst Assefa won the race with a time of 2 hours 15 minutes 41 seconds, lowering the women-only world marathon record she set in last year’s London Marathon by nine seconds. Kenyans Hellen Obiri (2:15:53) and Joyciline Jepkosgei (2:15:55) were second and third respectively.
Kenya's Sabastian Sawe and Ethiopia's Tigst Assefa celebrates with their shoes after winning the men's and woman's elite race at the London Marathon London in world record times on April 26, 2026
Photo credit: Reuters
After his win, Sawe affirmed the super shoe by holding one with his world record time written on it. Perhaps it meant to say that the world record belonged to him as much as it did to the shoe. The impact of his victory has been immense for Adidas. Adidas shares were up 2 per cent in mid-morning, Reuters reported on Monday.
Still, Sawe and Adidas do not plan to stop even after this ground-shattering breaking of the time and weight barrier.
Sawe’s coach, the Italian Claudio Berardelli, told the Guardian that there is more to come from his athlete. “What happened today is 90% of Sabastian,” Berardelli said, hinting that a sub-1:59 time is on the horizon for Sawe.
Equally, Adidas has set eyes on a new target, a sub-50 grams running shoe which will fly man beyond the next barrier in marathon running.
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Adidas does not rule out the possibility of creating a running shoe that is lighter than socks.
