Kenyan Sabastian Sawe, who last month became the first man to run a marathon in less than two hours in an official race, will try to improve that record on one of the fastest routes in the world at the Berlin Marathon in September, organizers said on Wednesday (13).
The 31-year-old athlete, who ran the London Marathon in 1h59min30, will return to competition to defend his title in Berlin on September 27th.
“After my victory in London and my sub-two-hour performance, I can only say that I will — as always — prepare as best as I can, go to Berlin to honor this great event and the organization that invited me, and aim to run as best and as fast as I can,” Sawe said in a statement.
The Berlin Marathon’s flat course is considered one of the fastest in the world, with nine men’s world records set at the event between 1998 and 2022.
Sawe completed the Berlin Marathon in 2:2:16 in 2025, recording the best time of the year in the world, despite temperatures reaching 25 degrees Celsius.
His compatriot Eliud Kipchoge still holds the course record of 2:01:09 in 2022, which also represented a world record.
“We’ll see what happens on race day,” Sawe said.
Organizers reported that the 2026 edition of the Berlin Marathon should attract almost 60,000 athletes from around 160 countries.
