‘Anything is possible’ as Sabastian Sawe reveals Berlin is his next marathon

Sabastian Sawe, the first human to run under two hours for a marathon in an official race, has announced that he will defend his Berlin Marathon title later this year.

The Kenyan clocked a world record 1:59:30 to win last month’s London Marathon, where Yomif Kejelcha (1:59:41) and Jacob Kiplimo (2:00:28) also went under the late Kelvin Kiptum’s previous world best mark of 2:00:35.

That made it four wins out of four at the distance for Sawe and the third of those was last year’s victory in Berlin in 2:02:16 when the temperatures were far from optimal as they soared to 25 degrees Celsius.

Berlin beckons

And he’ll now head back there on 27 September, saying: “I am very happy to return to BMW BERLIN-MARATHON this year and to defend my title.

“Many people may be wondering what my goals are this time round. After coming off my win in London and sub-2 performance, I can only say that, like always, I plan to prepare myself to the best of my ability and to come to Berlin to honor this great event and organization which have invited me, and to run as well and fast as possible.

“Then on the day we will see what will happen. I look at again experiencing the fantastic atmosphere and crowds that line the course.”

Berlin is renowned as one of the world’s quickest marathon courses and last year’s heat was very unusual for that time of year – it witnessed no fewer than eight world records between 2003 to 2019, from Paul Tergat’s 2:04:55 to Eliud Kipchoge’s 2:01:09.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by BMW BERLIN-MARATHON (@berlinmarathon)

Kejelcha set for Valencia

Not surprisingly the race organisers were understandably thrilled to have the news confirmed, Race Director Mark Milde saying: “As SCC EVENTS, we are absolutely delighted to welcome Sabastian Sawe back to the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON.

“With his impressive development over the past months and his historic world record, he has firmly written his name into the history books of marathon running.

“The fact that Sabastian consciously chose to return to Berlin is a great recognition of the global standing of our event and its fast course. His words also demonstrate the respect and appreciation he has for the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON and the Berlin spectators.

“If all conditions are right on race day, the weather cooperates, and Sabastian arrives at the start line in top form, then anything is possible.”

One key element of the record in London was the fact that Sawe was pushed virtually all the way by Kejelcha on what was his marathon debut and the Ethiopian athlete is reportedly set to have a second crack at the distance at Valencia in December.