The men's world marathon record is 2:00:35, set by Kelvin Kiptum in 2023, while the London course record is 2:01:25. Sawe believes he is in similar shape to when he attempted the world record in Berlin in September 2024. His agent, Eric Lilot, said they will ask pacemakers to go through halfway in 60 minutes and 30 seconds. Sawe's coach, Claudio Berardelli, confirmed Sawe fully recovered from a stress fracture in his foot after Berlin and a back injury in December. Sawe has run only four marathons.
The men's field includes Olympic champion Tamirat Tola and Yomif Kejelcha making his marathon debut. Jacob Kiplimo, who shattered the half-marathon world record with a time of 57:20 in March 2025, is also competing. Emile Cairess withdrew due to a calf issue.
Yes.
In the women's race, Tigst Assefa set the women-only world record at the 2024 London Marathon with a time of 2:15:50. Assefa said her training has gone better than last year and she thinks it is possible to beat her record. Eilish McColgan said the London Marathon atmosphere blew all her expectations out of the water and it was the toughest race she has ever done.
When he got the back problem, I was like, 'hey, no rush, let's fix it'. And if we can be ready for London, then we might see what to do. But by early February, he was impressive. We took our risks a little bit in terms of picking up the volume again and the intensity. But his body responded.
I've been coaching for more than 20 years in Kenya, and when I started dealing with Sabastian, I immediately realised this is not just a good athlete, this is not just one of the best Kenyan guys. At least for my experiences, he is a different human being. An outlier.
Yep.
My training has gone well, it has been better, even, than my preparation last year, so I think it is possible to beat the record I set last year.