A marathon under two hours has been achieved. What’s next?
A marathon officially completed under two hours is an immense feat, Northeastern University experts said. What’s the next record for these endurance runners?
A sub-2-hour marathon has been a benchmark that endurance runners have targeted for decades. Athletes pushed and pushed to break the long-standing barrier.
Now, one of sports’ most symbolic milestones has been achieved.
Kenyan Sabastian Sawe recently finished the 26.2-mile London Marathon in under 2 hours, crossing the finish line in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds.
The record-setting achievement translates to an average of 4 minutes and 33 seconds per mile. Moreover, Sawe was the first of two to finish the April 26 race in under 2 hours. Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia crossed the finish line 11 seconds later, with a total time of 1:59:41.
And if that wasn’t impressive enough, Sawe and Kejelcha both told the news media that they could run even faster.
Northeastern University experts say the sub-2-hour marathon is an immensely impressive feat that raises the stakes for the next frontier in athletic endurance.
“I don’t believe the significance can be overstated, evidenced simply [by] the years and years it took for humans to achieve it,” said Stephen B. Clark, assistant clinical professor in Northeastern’s Department of Physical Therapy, Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences.
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Marathon runners continue to make strides to incrementally shave time off the previously established records, particularly in the last 20 years. Since 2007, the marathon world record has been rewritten nine times and whittled down by five minutes, from Haile Gebrselassie’s 2:04:26 record set in Berlin in 2007 to Sawe’s latest accomplishment.
“Distance running is a constant drive for a personal record for even novice runners. Pushing toward a PR or course record or world record is the nature of a non-team sport like marathon racing,” said David Nolan, Director of Sports Physical Therapy Residency at Northeastern University.
The publicity around the new world record could kick up a greater interest in the sport, Nolan added, similar to how the quadrennial World Cup this summer will likely lead to a boost in curiosity in soccer. The new marathon record could inspire a new generation of runners and record-setting.
“I do think that running has continued to grow in popularity, given there are limited equipment needs and you don’t have to travel to the gym or join a team if you don’t want to,” Nolan said. “Lots of people run for fitness and for mental health.”
But performing at the level of these record-breakers doesn’t take just one thing, but rather a culmination of elements working together, experts said.
Sub-2-hour record has been broken, but this is official
It’s not the first time that a marathon has been run this fast. Eliud Kipchoge ran a 1:59:40 marathon in Vienna in 2019 as part of the Ineos 1:59 Challenge. However, the event was not considered an official marathon because it was a controlled environment tailored for Kipchoge’s peak performance.
Some of these controls included the route specifically being selected so that Kipchoge would not be affected by incline, wind or a significant time zone change from where he trained in Kenya; pacers running in a V-formation to further shield him from any wind resistance; and hydration being delivered by bicycle rather than at a water station to save time, according to the Ineos 1:59 Challenge.
All of these elements were designed to allow Kipchoge to technically reach this milestone. But “it takes a bit of a perfect storm” for these conditions to align without intervention during an officially sanctioned race, Nolan said.
Of course, there are the things that are within the runner’s control – the training, the fuel and the shoes, for example, Northeastern experts said. But typically, a runner does not have a say over the date of the race, or how sunny, windy or humid the race day will be. These elements can make or break a runner’s chance at setting a new record.
“You could have an athlete that has had the best training season or year and are in the best shape of their lives,” Nolan said. “But if it’s 80 degrees and humid and there’s wind, they’re not going to have the best race, which doesn’t make them any less of an athlete. Even with all the ideal training, “There’s still a part of it that you have nothing to do with but it’s going to impact you.”
So, what does it take to break a marathon record?
“Everything has to be in the right place at the right time,” concurred Rui Li, Director of the Exercise Science Program at Northeastern.
The London Marathon is considered a relatively flat and fast course with few hills. The day of the 2026 marathon was sunny with a breeze, with temperatures between 9 degrees and 15 degrees C, which is 48 degrees to 59 degrees F. Cooler and overcast conditions are preferable for runners, Nolan said, because it means fewer instances of heat illness.
For example, at the 2026 Boston Marathon, where Nolan assisted with physical therapy care at the finish line, he said some runners had temperatures above 104 degrees F even though the air temperature range was between 40 degrees and 50 degrees F. There would be more people afflicted if it had been a little bit warmer or sunnier, Nolan noted.
Further, the top finishers for both men and women were all wearing Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 shoes, which weigh 97 grams, less than a bar of soap. By comparison, the popular Hoka Clifton 9 sneakers, advertised as a lightweight shoe, can weigh between 200 and 250 grams.
As far as training goes, a runner has to build up energy systems to power them through the different parts of the race, Li said.
“By training, we are able to improve the number of mitochondria and also [their] size,” Li said, referring to the cell’s “powerhouse” that provides energy to the muscle. Different paces train different energy systems that contribute to the overall performance. For example, training at a slow pace promotes mitochondrial biogenesis, or the process of creating mitochondria. This pace is also known as Zone 2 training, which is 60% to 70% of someone’s maximum heart rate, and helps with aerobic capacity. Good training would involve some running at this pace and heart rate, Li explained.
Another important part of training is breathing in order to get enough oxygen to your body and cells. Diaphragmatic breathing, or belly breathing, provides the most oxygen per breath. And so runners should learn this technique of breathing deeply this way as one way to perform better, Li said.
Beyond the physical attributes, Li and Nolan noted that a runner’s state of mind can also play a critical role in the race.
“I think we see that in not just runners, but all athletes in all sports,” Nolan said. “People use the saying, ‘whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re probably right.”
Li described marathons as a “monotonous, rhythmic movement” that requires “tremendous focus.”
“In the end, especially 10, 15 minutes toward the finishing line, it’s really about your mental stress,” she said.
What will runners try to chase next?
The next record that endurance runners could attempt to smash is probably something only these runners know, Northeastern experts said.
“The sub-2-hour number is, I guess, not symbolic, but just it’s an even number,” Nolan said. “Sub-1 hour (and 59 minutes) is going to be a big deal too, but that’s sort of not as sexy.”
Li noted that maybe the record to break will be a few seconds, or even 10 or 15 seconds.
Sawe said that “even 1:58 is possible,” according to a report by the BBC. Kejelcha told the The Observer that it would not be “much harder” for him to break the next barrier.
“It’s hard to predict,” especially without knowing the data of how all of the running elements played a role in Sawe’s record, Li said.
“It has to have all the factors work toward favoring the winning, favoring the breaking record,” she said, noting that even if one element is not right, it means a runner has to work hard to compensate for it.
One thing to watch is the evolving shoe technology, whether that’s an even lighter shoe or one that provides greater energy return in a stride, the experts said. The limit to how efficient these shoes can be is still unknown, but it’s something that anyone can access, not just these elite runners, Nolan said.
“Whatever the barrier is, it’s usually this even number that at one point seemed impossible, and then [became] closer, closer, closer over time,” Nolan said.
Hannah Morse is a news reporter at Northeastern Global News.
