After London, Sawe aims to defend his Berlin Marathon title in September

After breaking the world record last month in London, world marathon record breaker and holder Sebastian Sawe has now confirmed that he will defend his Berlin Marathon title on September 27 this year.

Speaking to World Athletics on Wednesday, the athletics world governing body now reports that after running a world record of 1:59:30 in London, April 26 this year, Sawe has confirmed that he will return to the BMW Berlin Marathon to defend the title he won last year September 21, clocking a world-leading time of 2:02:16, which was then the second-fastest marathon of his career behind the 2:02:05 he ran in Valencia in 2024.

“Many people may be wondering what my goals are this time. After coming off my win in London and sub-2 performance, I can only say that, like always, I plan to prepare myself to the best of my ability and to come to Berlin to honour this great event and organisation which has invited me, and to run as fast as possible. Then, on the day, we will see what will happen, ” Sawe told World Athletics.

With that performance in London last month, Sawe, now 31, became the first athlete to officially break two hours for the marathon – taking 65 seconds off the previous world record set by the late Kelvin Kiptum in Chicago in 2023 and surpassing Eliud Kipchoge’s 1:59:41 exhibition performance from 2019.

Sawe is now unbeaten in his marathon career so far, marking his marathon debut back in 2024 with a 2:02:05, followed by a 2:02:27 win in London the following April and a 2:02:16 in 2025 to win in Berlin and then 1:59:30 to retain his title in London this year, 2026.