Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe broke the two-hour mark for the first time in history on Sunday in winning the London Marathon, while Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa defended her title, breaking her own women’s-only world record.

Sawe was locked in a tight battle with Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha in the closing stages but the defending champion surged clear to cross the line in one hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds.

Kejelcha also dipped under two hours, with a time of 1:59:41, with Uganda’s Jacob Kiplomo third in 2:00:28.

All three finished under the previous men’s world record of 2:00:35 set in Chicago in 2023, by the late Kelvin Kiptum.

Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge ran 1:59:40 in October 2019, becoming the first person in recorded history to do a sub-two-hour marathon.

But the time was not ratified as a world record because he ran with specialised shoes, standard competition rules for pacing and fluids were not followed, and it was not an open event.