{"id":126513,"date":"2026-04-27T13:07:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T19:07:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/marathon-record-breaker-says-he-underwent-strict-regime-before-smashing-2-hour-barrier\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T13:07:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T19:07:47","slug":"marathon-record-breaker-says-he-underwent-strict-regime-before-smashing-2-hour-barrier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/marathon-record-breaker-says-he-underwent-strict-regime-before-smashing-2-hour-barrier\/","title":{"rendered":"Marathon record-breaker says he underwent strict regime before smashing 2-hour barrier"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Kenya's
Kenya's Sabastian Sawe poses with Olympic Ring sun-glasses during an interview with The Associated Press after winning the London Marathon, in London, Monday, April 27, 2026. (AP Photo\/Kin Cheung)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LONDON \u2014 Sabastian Sawe<\/a> hopes the stringent testing regime he underwent before becoming the first person to break the fabled 2-hour barrier in marathon running will prove to the world he is competing clean.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old Kenyan pulled off the feat<\/a> that was long considered unthinkable when winning the London Marathon on Sunday in a time of 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds.<\/p>\n

There have been a slew of high-profile doping cases<\/a> involving Kenyan runners in recent years, notably women\u2019s marathon world record-holder Ruth Chepng\u2019etich<\/a> getting a three-year ban in October.<\/p>\n

So, in agreement with his coaches and management team, Sawe said he volunteered to undergo \u201cmultiple\u201d doping tests to dispel any suspicion around his own performances, including victories at last year\u2019s marathons in Berlin and London.<\/p>\n

\"Sebastian
Sebastian Sawe from Kenya crosses the finish line to win the men's race at the London Marathon in London, Sunday, April 26, 2026.(AP Photo\/Ian Walton)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cDoping has become a cancer in my country,\u201d Sawe told reporters on Monday.<\/p>\n

Sawe said he and his team decided to implement the stringent testing regime because the possibility of people looking at his results \u201cwith a lot of doubts was not good,\u201d and he wanted to \u201cshow the world that we can run clean and also run fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BBC, which holds the broadcast rights for the London Marathon, reported that Adidas provided $50,000 to the Athletics Integrity Unit, track and field\u2019s anti-doping body, to frequently test Sawe over a 12-month period, including 25 out-of-competition tests leading up to the Berlin Marathon in September and a similar number ahead of the London race.<\/p>\n

The Athletics Integrity Unit didn’t immediately respond to a request from The Associated Press for comment on Sawe’s testing regime.<\/p>\n

Sawe is urging other runners to volunteer for more doping tests.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone will feel comfortable running with his fellow athlete because there will be no doubt thinking (that) someone is using what he\u2019s using,” he said. \u201cAnd so, it\u2019s important to run clean and to show the world (that) talent, with hard work, discipline and patience,\u201d can lead to big achievements.<\/p>\n

\"Sebastian
Sebastian Sawe from Kenya celebrates winning the men's race at the London Marathon in London, Sunday, April 26, 2026.(AP Photo\/Ian Walton)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sawe also credited his footwear for helping him break the marathon record by an astonishing 65 seconds in Sunday\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

He wore an Adidas shoe that weighed less than half the weight of an average running shoe. After the race, he held up the shoe, which had his winning time written next to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe shoe is very nice, very light, comfortable and so supportive,\u201d he said, \u201cand is pushing (me) forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sawe was already a superstar in marathon running but has suddenly become a global sensation, something the softly spoken Kenyan is going to have to get used to.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing in the history books is not something easy,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it means a lot to me in my life and I\u2019m so happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sawe said he kept things simple after his world-record run.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just celebrated in style \u2014 I just relaxed and slept well and woke up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Kenya's
Kenya's Sabastian Sawe speaks during an interview with The Associated Press after winning the London Marathon in London, Monday, April 27, 2026. (AP Photo\/Kin Cheung)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sebastian
Sebastian Sawe from Kenya celebrates winning the men's race at the London Marathon in London, Sunday, April 26, 2026.(AP Photo\/Ian Walton)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kenya's Sabastian Sawe poses with Olympic Ring sun-glasses during an interview with The Associated Press after winning the London Marathon, in London, Monday, April 27, 2026. (AP Photo\/Kin Cheung) LONDON \u2014 Sabastian Sawe hopes the stringent testing regime he underwent before becoming the first person to break the fabled 2-hour barrier in marathon running will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":126514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6313],"tags":[3720,1829,6419],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-126513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports-2","tag-nation-world","tag-tcr-trueanthem","tag-tj-trueanthem"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126513"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=126513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}