LONDON, ENGLAND, April 26 — Sabastian Sawe made it two-for-two in his marathon career. The smooth-striding Kenyan followed in the ever-fast footsteps of the late Kelvin Kiptum in backing up an impressive debut win in Valencia with a dominating triumph in the 2025 London Marathon.
“It was my first Majors race,” Sawe said, “and it was a nice race for me. I prepared well for this race, I ran well and I’m really happy.”
While it took a while for the 30-year-old Sawe to make his way to his first Major, he made quick work of it, blowing open a tight 9-man race with a torrid surge at 30K, so effective that he was able to solo his way to a dominating one-move win in 2:02:27.
Despite warming conditions, Sawe’s clocking was the second fastest in London falling between Kiptum’s 2:01:25 course record run in 2023 and Eliud Kipchoge’s 2:02:37 in 2019. Jacob Kiplimo finished 2nd running a Ugandan Record 2:03:37 in his marathon debut.
Defending London champ Alexander Mutiso outleaned Abdi Nageeye for the final spot on the podium with both finishing in 2:04:20. Ethiopian Tamirat Tola crossed 5th in 2:04:42, followed by the venerable Kipchoge, 6th 2:05:25.
Sawe’s pace explosion followed a rather uneventful opening 30K that started fast then slowed in the bright sun. The downhill opening 10K was covered in 28:57 with Kipchoge taking his usual drafting position behind the two pacers.
Kiplimo, fresh off his 56:42 half-marathon World Record, shadowed Kipchoge. The debutant ran comfortably but the extra motion of his gait was evident compared to the efficient minimalist strides of the more seasoned marathoners.
The runners slowed to a 29:20 tempo through the second 10K as both pacers gave out before passing halfway in 61:30, a half minute slower than targeted, but leaving the 10-man lead group intact.
The pace slowed even more as the third 10K was covered in 29:30 with Timothy Kiplagat first throwing in a couple of surges then falling away after 25K. Kiplimo was soon followed off the back by Mohamed Esa. Kipchoge ran at the front at 27K and shortly thereafter was joined by Sawe and then by Kipkoech, who ran in the chase pack before rocketing through the 25–30K 5K segment in 14:20 to catch the lead group at 30K (1:27:47).
The 2:03:28 pace was fast enough to give Kiplimo a good introduction to the marathon. “My body was OK from the start to like 30K,” he said. “Then I started feeling some, a little bit [of] cramps in the legs.”
Sawe continued to dictate a quickening pace as Kipchoge fell from contention. “I knew I was tipped to win and I was very confident,” said the winner. “I was well prepared for this race. I showed up and everything went well.”
As the lead group approached the aid station at 30.7K, Sawe showed up big as he eschewed the fluid grab and got a jump on his rivals lighting out in a mid-race sprint.
“That was calculated,” Sawe said of his water station break. “It was the only bottle that I missed but I saw that it was my opportunity to push. I was feeling well and had the confidence to attack the other athletes. I ran good, and that helped me win this race.”
Running good was the 5:29 2K split to 32K or the 4:18 20th mile that sent Sawe away so quickly his competitors couldn’t respond. “I knew that Sawe already left,” Kiplimo said. “I tried to close the gap but unfortunately the gap was big. My legs were really tired and I was just focusing to finish.”
Sawe kept up a sub-2:50 tempo splitting 8:27 between 32 and 35K to complete a 13:56 5K segment — 22 seconds ahead of Kiplimo. Sawe closed the final 7.2K at 2:53 pace to earn a win by 70 seconds in his second 2:02 effort.
Sawe moved late to professional running and the marathon. “I focused on education first, and after education I came to training,” the soft-spoken Sawe explained.
Contesting mostly local races, Sawe managed 13:42.28 to finish 7th in the 2019 Kenyan African Games Trials in Nairobi. With heavy training through Covid, Sawe emerged world class in 2022 winning the Rome Half-Marathon in 58:02 and running 26:54 in the adidas Road to Records 10K and 27:09.46 on the track. He won 6 of 8 races in 2023 and ’24.
A bit of a journeymen in training camps around Eldoret, Sawe’s most significant move was in 2024 when he went to Kapsabet to join coach Claudio Berardelli’s 2 Running Club. That group includes marathon stars Benson Kipruto and Evans Chebet along with 3rd-place Boston finisher Cybrian Kotut and Amos Kipruto, who won Sunday’s Hamburg race in a CR 2:03:46.
Manager Eric Lilot noted, “Claudio and I soon realized that we are dealing with someone special. Not just from a talent standpoint, but we’re fortunate to be working with someone who is so professional and serious in everything he does.” Lilot added, “Sabastian is so unassuming and quiet until he gets into a race, then he is like a quiet assassin.”
LONDON MARATHON MEN’S RESULTS
1. Sabastian Sawe (Ken) 2:02:27 (1:01:30/1:00:57); 2. Jacob Kiplimo (Uga) 2:03:37 NR (debut); 3. Alexander Mutiso (Ken) 2:04:20; 4. Abdi Nageeye (Neth) 2:04:20 NR; 5. Tamirat Tola (Eth) 2:04:42; 6. Eliud Kipchoge (Ken) 2:05:25; 7. Hillary Kipkoech (Ken) 2:06:05 PR;
8. Amanal Petros (Ger) 2:06:30; 9. Mahamed Mahamed (GB) 2:08:52; 10. Milkesa Mengesha (Eth) 2:09:01; 11. Andrew Buchanan (Aus) 2:09:11; 12. Adam Lipschitz (SA) 2:09:48; 13. Sondre Nordstad Moen (Nor) 2:09:57; 14. Alexander Yee (GB) 2:11:08 PR;
15. Weynay Ghebreselassie (GB) 2:11:21; 16. Jake Smith (GB) 2:11:57; 17. Marcelo Laguera (Mex) 2:12:03; 18. Kevin Salvano (US) 2:13:03; 19. Alex Milne (GB) 2:14:03; 20. Philip Sesemann (GB) 2:14:46; 20. Sondre Nordstad Moen (Nor) 2:09:57; 21. Marcelo Laguera (Mex) 2:12:03; 22. Kevin Salvano (US) 2:13:03.
