{"id":5484,"date":"2026-05-16T13:26:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T10:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urkod.com\/?p=5484"},"modified":"2026-06-23T21:27:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T18:27:28","slug":"sabastian-sawe-sub-2-marathon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urkod.com\/en\/sabastian-sawe-sub-2-marathon\/","title":{"rendered":"Sebastian Soi and the Two-Hour Barrier: What Does This Mean to You as an Amateur Arab Runner"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 26, 2026, was no ordinary day in the history of Running as Sports<\/a> And as for marathons, what happened in the City of Fog that morning will be etched in history forever<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At exactly 11:34:30 on the streets of London, Kenyan runner Sebastian Soi crossed the finish line in his lightest-ever shoes, the Adidas Adizero Evo 3, at London Marathon<\/a> 2026 \u0628\u062a\u0648\u0642\u064a\u062a 1:59:30\u060c \u0644\u064a\u0635\u0628\u062d \u0623\u0648\u0644 \u0625\u0646\u0633\u0627\u0646 \u0641\u064a \u0627\u0644\u062a\u0627\u0631\u064a\u062e \u064a\u0643\u0633\u0631 \u062d\u0627\u062c\u0632 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0627\u0639\u062a\u064a\u0646 \u0641\u064a Race<\/a> Marathon<\/a> \u0631\u0633\u0645\u064a \u0645\u0639\u062a\u0645\u062f.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This wasn't just a new record. It was a landmark moment in sports history, comparable to the first moon landing. It was a barrier that scientists and coaches had been debating for decades\u2014whether it could ever be broken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To put the magnitude of this achievement into perspective, it\u2019s enough to know that the world record for this race in 1908 was 2:55:18\u2014a time that I personally know several amateur friends today who could beat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who is Sebastian Soi?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Kimaro Soii was born on March 16, 1995, in the village of Barsumbi in Kenya\u2019s Rift Valley region. He was born to a farmer and raised by his grandmother in a simple home with mud walls and no electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian didn't start out as a long-distance runner. He used to compete in middle-distance races, and by pure chance, he found himself running a 5,000-meter race in 2019 after arriving late to a sports competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2020, he tore a tendon in his foot, and his career nearly ended before it had even begun. He made a comeback. In 2024, he ran his first marathon in Valencia and won with a time of 2:02:05. In September 2025, he won the Berlin Marathon. And in April 2026, he made history in London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Key Figures Behind Sui's Success<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1:59:30<\/td>Final Time<\/td><\/tr>
2:00:35<\/strong><\/td>The late \u201cKelvin Kiptum,\u201d who lost his life in a tragic accident in 2023<\/td><\/tr>
65 Seconds <\/td>The difference from the previous number<\/td><\/tr>
2:50 Minute<\/td>Rate per kilometer<\/td><\/tr>
200 km per week<\/strong><\/td>Average Weekly Training (6 weeks before the race)<\/td><\/tr>
Adidas Adizero Evo 3<\/strong><\/td>Running shoes<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does this mean for Arab Runner?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For anyone running through the streets of Amman, along the Dubai Corniche, or through the neighborhoods of Riyadh, this legendary era means one simple thing: no matter how high the barriers may be, they can be brought down\u2014and indeed, they are. What we once saw as an impenetrable wall, like the Berlin Wall, has fallen just as the Berlin Wall did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our Arab countries are not lacking in talent; Hisham Al-Karouj, Nour al-Din Mersli, and Saeed Aweita are proof of the potential and capabilities of Arab runners. The only things we lack are management and discipline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soi didn\u2019t come from a world-class sports academy. He didn\u2019t have financial resources or extensive infrastructure during his childhood or even his youth. He grew up in a mud house, and through determination, perseverance, and disciplined training based on science, he became the fastest person in history over a distance of 42 kilometers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before leaving London, Sui attended Mass at his village church and asked the villagers to pray for him. No longer adorned only with gold, but also with personal glory, national pride, and a world record that will remain etched in history, he returned as a world champion and went straight to his church to thank his family and neighbors and promised to complete its construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not just another sports story; it is a lesson that runners, athletes, students, and businesspeople must learn: goals are not achieved through mere wishful thinking, but by seizing the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Marathon in Numbers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes Sui's achievement even more remarkable is the way he accomplished it. He didn't run at a steady pace\u2014instead, he picked up speed as the race progressed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stage<\/strong><\/td>Time<\/strong><\/td>Notes<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
First Half of Marathon (21.1 Km)<\/td>60:29<\/td>He began cautiously and at a measured pace<\/td><\/tr>
Second Half of Marathon (21.1 Km)<\/td>59:01<\/td>A surge in the second half, which is rare in marathons due to fatigue<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This race wasn\u2019t just historic for Sui alone; the runner-up, Yomif Kegelsha of Ethiopia, finished the race in 1:59:41, becoming the second person to break the two-hour barrier in an official, certified marathon. How would you feel if you found out that you had broken a world record in your favorite sport but ended up being crowned the runner-up instead of the winner?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personally, I had resigned myself to the 4:30 barrier, which I had never been able to break in any of the marathons I\u2019d run, and I began to tell myself that, as a man over fifty who had been a smoker for many years, I couldn\u2019t do any better than that. But Sawi and Kigelsha opened my eyes to the fact that every hard worker has a goal, and that determination is rewarded in proportion to one\u2019s resolve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s true that I\u2019m over fifty, but I\u2019m going to make fundamental changes to my diet and training regimen, and one day I\u2019ll set a new personal best that I thought for a moment was unattainable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And whenever you doubt your ability to achieve what you want, or wonder if the goal you\u2019ve set for yourself is even possible, remember a man who grew up in a mud-brick house and went on to make history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnything is possible with time,\u201d Sui said after the race. And that's what we believe in at Urkod<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See also
The London Marathon will be held over two days in 2027<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 26, 2026, was no ordinary day in the history of running and marathon racing; what happened in the City of Fog that morning will be etched in history forever. At exactly 11:34:30 a.m. on the streets of London, Kenyan runner Sebastian Sui, wearing the lightest running shoes of all time\u2014the Adidas Adizero Evo 3\u2014crossed the finish line in London Marathon<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[15,17,76,14],"class_list":["post-5484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-almadrasah","tag-15","tag-17","tag-76","tag-14"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/urkod.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/urkod.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/urkod.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urkod.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urkod.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5484"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/urkod.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5692,"href":"https:\/\/urkod.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5484\/revisions\/5692"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urkod.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/urkod.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urkod.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urkod.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}