{"id":118868,"date":"2026-04-24T15:24:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T15:24:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/silent-assassin-sabastian-sawe-targets-world-record-with-supershoe-in-london-marathon\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T15:24:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T15:24:30","slug":"silent-assassin-sabastian-sawe-targets-world-record-with-supershoe-in-london-marathon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/silent-assassin-sabastian-sawe-targets-world-record-with-supershoe-in-london-marathon\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Silent assassin\u2019 Sabastian Sawe targets world record with supershoe in London Marathon"},"content":{"rendered":"

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They call Sabastian Sawe the silent assassin. And, whisper it, but the Kenyan may just take down the men\u2019s world marathon record in London on Sunday.<\/p>\n

It is an imposing target, set by Kelvin Kiptum in 2023, which stands at two hours and 35 seconds. But Sawe believes he is in similar shape to when he went for the world record in Berlin last September, only to be thwarted by temperatures in the mid-20s centigrade.<\/p>\n

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Intriguingly this time he also comes armed with Adidas\u2019s new Pro Evo 3 supershoe, which weighs in at an astonishingly light 96 grams, and he says is even faster than its predecessor. Asked on Friday whether it could lead to him breaking the London course record of 2:01:25 or maybe the world record, Sawe gave a short and partly instructive answer: \u201cYes,\u201d he said, to laughter.<\/p>\n

And while the London course is not as fast as Berlin or Chicago, Sawe\u2019s agent, Eric Lilot, says that they will ask the pacemakers to go through halfway in 60 minutes and 30 seconds which at least gives him a chance of making history, especially given there are tailwinds forecast for the final few miles.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a silent assassin,\u201d Lilot added. \u201cHe\u2019s so quiet. But when he steps on the road he is a beast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sawe\u2019s coach, Claudio Berardelli, also confirmed that last year\u2019s London Marathon<\/a> winner had fully recovered from a stress fracture in his foot after Berlin and a back injury in December, which made him miss 10 days of training.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he got the back problem, I was like, \u2018hey, no rush, let\u2019s fix it\u2019,\u201d said Berardelli. \u201cAnd if we can be ready for London, then we might see what to do. But by early February, he was impressive. We took our risks a little bit in terms of picking up the volume again and the intensity. But his body responded.\u201d<\/p>\n

And given Sawe has run only four marathons, Berardelli is convinced there is more in the tank. \u201cI\u2019ve been coaching for more than 20 years in Kenya, and when I started dealing with Sabastian, I immediately realised this is not just a good athlete, this is not just one of the best Kenyan guys. At least for my experiences, he is a different human being. An outlier.\u201d<\/p>\n

However Sawe will not have it his own way given he faces a stacked field of Kenyan and Ethiopian talents, which includes Jacob Kiplimo, who shattered the half-marathon world record by running 57min 20sec last month, the Olympic champion Tamirat Tola and Yomif Kejelcha, who makes his marathon debut having won 10,000m silver in September.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Jacob Kiplimo holds the world record for the half-marathon and could push Sabastian Sawe.<\/span> Photograph: Andrew Baker\/London Marathon Events\/Handout Photo\/PA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some informed voices believe Kejelcha will make the podium here. His pedigree and his half-marathon person best of 57:24 suggests they could be right. But Kiplimo, who came second to Sawe in London last year in 2:03:37 in his marathon debut, is the most intriguing rival.<\/p>\n

Before Friday\u2019s press conference the pair staged a boxing-style face-off, looking into each other\u2019s eyes as the cameras flashed. All that was missing was the race director, Hugh Brasher, keeping them apart.<\/p>\n

Asked whether he could take down the favourite, Kiplimo said that he had increased his mileage and was better prepared compared with last year. \u201cWe will see on Sunday,\u201d he added. \u201cBut I know we are going to battle together.\u201d That battle could, of course, make a world record less likely \u2013 with the top men watching each other more than the clock.<\/p>\n

British interest is dampened by the withdrawal of Emile Cairess through injury. However, Patrick Dever, who finished third in the New York Marathon, along with Phil Sesemann and Mohamed Mohamed will all try to go through halfway in 2:06.30 pace.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the women\u2019s race may well turn into a two-way battle between the defending champion Tigst Assefa, who also won Olympic silver in Paris and Hellen Obiri, who took bronze in Paris and has won the Boston and New York marathons. However the Valencia champion Joyciline Jepkosgei could yet prove the fly in the ointment in what looks to be an intriguing race.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They call Sabastian Sawe the silent assassin. And, whisper it, but the Kenyan may just take down the men\u2019s world marathon record in London on Sunday. It is an imposing target, set by Kelvin Kiptum in 2023, which stands at two hours and 35 seconds. But Sawe believes he is in similar shape to when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":118869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118868"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}