The London Marathon is one of the most historic races in all of racing history, and the 2026 version was no different.
Sabastian Sawe ran a record-breaking 1:59:30 to become the first man in the history of marathons to complete the 26.2-mile trek in under two hours. As if that wasn’t enough, just behind Sawe, Yomif Kejelcha came in at 1:59:41, to become the second man to ever finish a marathon in under two hours.
Even more impressive, this was Kejelcha’s marathon debut.
Not all of the record-breaking was on the men’s side.
Tigst Assefa set a women’s only record time of 2:15:41. A run nine seconds better than her previous record run of 2:15:50, at the 2025 London Marathon.
Assefa was nearly beaten for that record, however.
Hellen Obiri came in second at 2:15:53 and Joyciline Jepkosgei finished a very close third at 2:15:55.
The London Marathon had its inaugural race on March 29, 1981. Only 6,255 people finished that debut race. However, since then, the race has grown exponentially, with over 1.3 million having crossed the finish line by 2025.
