Kenya’s Sebastien Sawe has won the Berlin Marathon races staged on Sunday, September 21, 2025, in Germany.

The athlete braved the hot weather conditions of the German city to cross the line in a dominant fashion, clocking 2:02:15 for the 51st edition of the races.

Third marathon title

The triumph added to his two marathon titles, having previously won the London Marathon and his historical debut in the Valencia Marathon in 2024, where he clocked the fastest time for a marathon debut in a time of 2:02:05.

Despite inching close to breaking the world record held by Kelvin Kiptum, Sawe recorded an improvement from his impressive first-place finish in the 2025 London Marathon, where he clocked 2:02:27.

Kiptum’s record in sight

During the race, the long-distance athlete sparked wide discussion among the pundits, with talk of him breaking the world record surfacing after he crossed the halfway mark in 60:16. The impressive feat projected him to finish in a record time of 2:00:31, thus breaking Kiptum’s world record of 2:00:35.

The record was, however, not even, as the 29-year-old remains undefeated in all the marathon races he has competed in with the win in Berlin.

In his second marathon, Sawe bossed proceedings in the London Marathon, clocking an impressive time of 2:02:27 to edge a star-studded field that comprised multiple winner, Eliud Kipchoge and Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo.

Past feats

Kiplimo finished second in 2:03:37 with another Kenyan, Alexander Mutiso, claiming a strong third-place finish to complete the podium.

Eliud Kipchoge, a previous London Marathon winner, finished sixth after clocking 2:05:25.

The feat had been preceded by his historic debut in Valencia in 2024.

During the event, his winning time of 2:02:05 was just 12 seconds off the fastest ever debut set by his compatriot Kiptum.

Sawe burst into the scene in 2022 when acting as a pacemaker in the Sevilla Half Marathon, where he continued with the race to ultimately finish as the winner.

The athlete has now etched his name among the athletes to watch in the long-distance races.

It remains to be seen how he approaches his subsequent races after showing good promise as far as breaking the existing world record stands.