Sawe and Yomif Kejelcha’s amazing results in London could be the catalyst for more than 2 hours of performances.
When Roger Bannister ran the world’s first four-minute mile in 1954, he predicted:
He was right. Just 46 days after his historic 3:59.4 in Oxford, John Landy broke four minutes in Finland. Within a few years, the four-minute mile also became relatively common.
The two-hour marathon has been called “impossible” by respected scientists and top former athletes over the years. They said the same thing about the four-minute mile.
Some leading experts suggested that they would not see a two-hour marathon in their lifetime. They claimed it was the stuff of science fiction. Others predicted it would “never be done,” though “never” is of course a very long time. Even Mo Farah described the pace required as “mind blowing”.
In the 1970 film Michael Winner the games A runner named Harry Hayes, played by Michael Crawford, is challenged by his coach, played by Sir Stanley Baker, to run the “two-hour marathon” at the Olympics. All this is shown in a fictional way in the world of cinema, but here, half a century later, it is actually happening.
Eliud Kipchoge showed us what was possible when he clocked 2:00:25 at Monza in 2017. Two years later. he ran 1:59:41 with a stage-controlled timer with several pacemakers on a course in Vienna, carefully chosen for the city’s climate and runner-friendly nature in the tree-lined Haupthalle area. Ironically, London was ruled out as a possible location due to its unpredictable weather.
I was in Vienna to watch his experiment. Such was the attention to detail, organizers created small banked curves around the roundabout to minimize centrifugal forces.
Asked if other runners would follow him into the two-hour mark, Kipchoge said: “Of course I believe so.”
Crucially, this should have happened in a bona fide marathon race, but not with a manufactured timer.
The late Kelvin Kiptum was relatively close in two hours with a time of 2:00:35 in Chicago in 2023. In London on Sunday, Sebastian Soi broke the two-hour barrier in 1:59:30.
Furthermore, runner-up Yomif Kejelcha clocked 1:59:41, with third-placed Jacob Kiplimo also in Kiptum’s world record of 2:00:28.
Did Soi expect a two hour break? “Yes, I was ready because the race was very fast and I knew something good would come and it finally did,” he said. “There’s always fatigue approaching the finish line and it’s a matter of getting my mind ready.”
While Kipchoge had a manicured course, a phalanx of pacemakers and a straight two-hour pace car, Soyi benefited from the London Marathon’s world-famous crowd, brilliant weather with a light breeze in the final stages and Kejelcha, an Ethiopian to the last content.
Sawe also had the Super Boots, which are undoubtedly an improved version of the early Nike Vaporfly models that Kipchoge and others have been using in 2019. Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 known as light as a newborn kitten with a foam insect and carbon plates that propelled it into the history books.
The technology in this type of shoe is also likely to continue to improve, although old-school runners will be happy to hear that Soi had nothing nicer for breakfast than two slices of bread with honey and tea.
READ MORE. Sawe’s path to success
“We had a strong team,” Soi said, “and also the weather was so favorable, and that helped us perform so well today.”
Does Soi think his run will act as a catalyst for more two-hour performances?
“Yes, I knew my fellow competitors weren’t far behind me in London, if I ran in the sub-two, I knew they would be running close to the two too.
“I proved that everything is possible.”
