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…
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