President William Ruto has presented the Kenyan distance runner in Nairobi with a car and €53,000 after he completed the marathon in the British capital in 1:59:30, the first official mark under two hours.
The celebrations had begun the previous night at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, when the Kenya Airways plane carrying Sabastian Sawe from Paris passed beneath a water arch sprayed by two fire engines.
Waiting for him on the ground were the sports minister, Salim Mvurya, his parents, journalists and numerous supporters, in a mass welcome that turned his return to Nairobi into a national celebration.
Sawe, 31, lowered the previous men’s world record by 65 seconds, bettering the 2:00:35 set by Kelvin Kiptum in Chicago in 2023, and opened up a new frontier in an event that for decades had treated two hours as a physical and mental barrier.
Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha also went under that threshold, finishing second in 1:59:41, while Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo was third in 2:00:28.
Ruto turned the reception at State House into a state ceremony and, according to the presidency’s official speech, placed the achievement alongside Neil Armstrong’s arrival on the Moon in 1969 and Roger Bannister’s sub-four-minute mile in 1954.
The award was structured as two public payments totalling €53,000: one of €33,200 for setting a world record and another of around €19,800 for winning a major competition, in line with the country’s framework for sporting rewards.
Ruto also presented him with a personalised number plate bearing the time 1:59:30, to be fitted to the vehicle Sawe will be allowed to choose under the state-funded award.
The athlete responded with a pair of autographed Adidas Adizero shoes, worn during the race, and a signed photograph of the moment he crossed the finish line.
The reception combined protocol, family emotion and national symbols.
Sawe appeared draped in the Kenyan flag, with the national anthem playing in the background and amid traditional dances, an image that reinforced his new status as a sporting hero in a country where distance runners are figures of immense prestige.
The runner, still surprised by the scale of the welcome, said “I am very happy because this victory has shown me what I was capable of. I have been training, so I had the record in mind, but I did not expect to break it so soon.” –Insidethegames.biz
Follow our WhatsApp Channel now! https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbAjG7g3gvWajUAEX12Q
