Kenya's Sabastian Sawe thanked Adidas for his “very light, comfortable” shoe on Monday (April 27) after becoming the first person to run a marathon in under two hours in an official race, accomplishing his feat wearing the brand's Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 trainers.

Sawe shattered one of athletics' most elusive barriers on Sunday (April 26) as he stormed to victory at the London Marathon in one hour 59 minutes and 30 seconds. The sub‑two‑hour marathon has been one of sport's biggest goals for years.

After the race, Sawe held up his $500 Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 trainer with "WR" and "sub-2" written on it in black marker pen. He beat the previous world record of 2:00:35 set at the Chicago Marathon in October 2023 by the late Kelvin Kiptum.

The Kenyan dismissed claims by some that the shoe had given him an unfair advantage pointing to the show being given approval for road races by World Athletics.

The win is a boost for Adidas against arch-rival Nike, after years of lab‑backed experiments and near‑misses looking to build a so-called "supershoe" to break the record.

On Monday, Sawe also spoke about problems with doping in the sport and why he and his team, mindful of Kenya's doping record, invited the Athletics Integrity Unit to test him as much as possible last year.

They did so 25 times in the run-up to the 2025 Berlin Marathon.

Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia broke her own women's only world record in winning the London Marathon on Sunday.

She told media on Monday there was no secret to her success.

"I've trained hard and because of all the hard work I've put in, I've achieved this level of success.”

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (APRIL 27, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. KENYA'S SABASTIAN SAWE ARRIVING FOR MEDIA EVENT

2. SAWE POSING FOR PHOTOS

3. SAWE WALKING INTO ROOM FOR MEDIA HUDDLE

4. SAWE SITTING DOWN

5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) FIRST PERSON TO RUN A MARATHON IN UNDER TWO HOURS, SABASTIAN SAWE, SAYING:

“First of all, I would like to thank the Adidas company for making the shoe. The shoe is very nice, very light, comfortable, and so supportive, and it's pushing forward.”

6. SAWE POSING FOR PHOTO

7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) FIRST PERSON TO RUN A MARATHON IN UNDER TWO HOURS, SABASTIAN SAWE, SAYING:

REPORTER: "Does it upset you or annoy you that people have described it as technological doping to be wearing the light shoe?

SAWE: Absolutely not, because the shoe was approved, and I think there was no doubt about it. So I have no doubt about it, yeah.”

8. VARIOUS OF SAWE POSING FOR PHOTO NEXT TO BANNER WITH A PHOTO OF HIM ON IT

9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) FIRST PERSON TO RUN A MARATHON IN UNDER TWO HOURS, SABASTIAN SAWE, SAYING:

“For sure, doping has become a cancer in my country. And for sure, what I decided, not myself, but my management with my team, two running clubs, and also my coaches, was an incredible thing. To decide to have multiple tests was because of seeing Sabastian running incredibly in this journey of marathon with a lot of doubts, was not good. So he came up to show the world that we can run clean and also run fast. And so that was the aim of doing multiple doping times (the) doping test.

10. SAWE POSING FOR PHOTO

11. (SOUNDBITE) (English) FIRST PERSON TO RUN A MARATHON IN UNDER TWO HOURS, SABASTIAN SAWE, SAYING:

“And I would like to encourage my fellow athletes to like doing it (testing) because it will make the athletics life again. And everyone will feel comfortable running with his fellow athlete because there will be no doubt of thinking someone is using what they're using. And so it's important to run clean and to show the world talent with hard work, discipline, and passion the achievement is coming true.”

12. SAWE POSING FOR PHOTOS AT END OF MEDIA HUDDLE, STANDING UP

13. VARIOUS OF TIGST ASSEFA SIGNING LONDON MARTHON SPONSOR BANNER

14. ASSEFA HOLDING BANNER

15. (SOUNDBITE) (Amharic) WOMEN'S MARATHON WORLD RECORD HOLDER AND WINNER OF 2026 LONDON MARATHON, TIGST ASSEFA, SAYING:

“Yeah, for the future, I would love to get the all-time world record for women's marathon. And in terms of the shoes, yeah, I'll speak to my coach and I'll speak to my shoe company and hope that they can continue to give me the shoes that are going to allow me to run fast.”

16. ASSEFA SIGNING BANNER

17. (SOUNDBITE) (Amharic) WOMEN'S MARATHON WORLD RECORD HOLDER AND WINNER OF 2026 LONDON MARATHON, TIGST ASSEFA, SAYING:

“For sure, I was not expecting that they (the men) were going to run under two hours. That really took me by surprise. But I have to say that the level of competition and the quality of the athletes competing in the men's race was such that I knew it was going to be a good competition. I knew that they were going to run fast, but I had no idea that they were going to run quite as fast as they did.”

18. ASSEFA AND HER COACH LISTENING TO QUESTION

19. (SOUNDBITE) (Amharic) WOMEN'S MARATHON WORLD RECORD HOLDER AND WINNER OF 2026 LONDON MARATHON, TIGST ASSEFA, SAYING:

“I'm very happy to have broken the record and to have won in London for a second time. It means a lot to me. When I think about the competition, there's no secret to my success. I've trained hard and because of all the hard work I've put in, I've achieved this level of success.”

20. ASSEFA POSING FOR PHOTOS