Sebastian Sawe, the first person to break the two-hour barrier in marathon history, has announced his withdrawal from the Berlin Marathon scheduled for September 27 due to an injury. On his personal Instagram page on September 6, the 31-year-old Kenyan athlete said he was forced to withdraw but did not specify the nature of the injury.
“It is with a heavy heart that I announce I must withdraw from the Berlin Marathon due to injury. I was really looking forward to doing something special on the streets of Berlin,” Sawe wrote.
The Berlin Marathon will be Sawe’s first race since April, when he won the London Marathon with a time of 1:59:30, becoming the first person to run a marathon under two hours. The flat course in Berlin has long been considered an ideal venue for setting records, and Sawe previously won this race in 2025 with a time of 2:02:16 despite hot and humid weather and losing his pacemaker from the 24th kilometer.
Sawe’s world record could be threatened on December 6, when Ethiopian runner Yomif Kejelcha competes in the Valencia Marathon, another course known for its fast times. Kejelcha is the second person to run a marathon under two hours, finishing 11 seconds behind Sawe in London, and recently broke the half marathon world record with a time of 56:51 over the weekend.
After breaking the record in London, Sawe received a warm welcome in his native Kenya, with large crowds gathering at Nairobi airport and the country’s president awarding him cash and a car.
