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On May 6 1954, Sir Roger Bannister did what was deemed impossible in athletics: he ran a mile in less than four minutes<\/a>.<\/p>\n The milestone was celebrated worldwide, not just by athletics fans. It was considered at the time to be a similar achievement<\/a> to scaling Mount Everest for the first time, which Sir Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay had done the year before.<\/p>\n On Sunday, Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe and Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha achieved a breakthrough<\/a> comparable to Bannister’s some 72 years ago: running the 42 kilometres of a marathon in less than two hours.<\/p>\n \n Let’s break down this new benchmark and work out how these athletes were able to do it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What happened in London?<\/strong><\/p>\n Sawe smashed the men’s world record by an astonishing 65 seconds in winning the event in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds.<\/p>\n Kejelcha – remarkably running in his first marathon<\/a> – also crossed the line in under two hours (1:59:41).<\/p>\n The race was blisteringly fast. Even third-place getter Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda broke the previous world record – set in 2023 by Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum in the United States – by seven seconds (finishing in 2:00:28).<\/p>\n Sawe ran quicker as the marathon went on, covering the second half of the race in 59:01. He pulled clear of Kejelcha after about 30 kilometres and made his solo break in the final two kilometres.<\/p>\n After the race, Sawe said:<\/p>\n I’ve made history today in London, and for the next generation I’ve shown them that nothing is impossible. Everything is possible, with a matter of time.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n The training and nutrition<\/strong><\/p>\n Sawe’s team said<\/a> he trained by running up to 240 kilometres a week and fuelled himself before the race with bread and honey<\/a>.<\/p>\n This reported training volume is likely an important factor in running a sub two-hour marathon.<\/p>\n Running up to 240 kilometres a week is beyond what most runners can tolerate. But high training volume, especially when much of it is done at relatively low intensity, is associated with faster marathon performances<\/a>.<\/p>\n Nutrition during the race was also well planned.<\/p>\n A two-hour marathon is run at such high intensity that carbohydrate intake becomes important to maintain performance. The body stores carbohydrate in the muscles and liver but those stores are limited<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n According to his nutrition team<\/a>, Sawe took a carbohydrate drink and a gel leading up to the start, then used carbohydrate drinks and gels throughout the race.<\/p>\n His reported intake averaged about 115 grams of carbohydrate per hour.<\/p>\n While this is not a recommendation for the recreational runner<\/a>, at the intensity required to run a two-hour marathon, it helps to maintain energy supply and pace late in the race.<\/p>\n The physiology<\/strong><\/p>\n Although Sawe and Kejelcha’s laboratory data are not public, the physiology required to run a fast marathon is due to three main attributes<\/a>:<\/p>\n Exceptional marathon performances also depend on durability<\/a>, which is the ability to prevent deterioration of these qualities throughout the race.<\/p>\n What about the shoe?<\/strong><\/p>\n Sawe and Kejelcha wore the lightest “supershoe” in history: Adidas’ Adios Pro Evo 3.<\/p>\n Adidas says<\/a> it is “the fastest and lightest supershoe ever made”. It weighs less than 100 grams<\/a>.<\/p>\n Supershoes can improve running economy by about 4%<\/a> compared with conventional racing shoes.<\/p>\n The Adios Pro Evo 3 combines several features common in supershoes: very low weight, thick resilient foam and a stiff carbon-based structure in the midsole. The heel thickness is reported to be 39 millimetres, just under the 40mm limit permitted by World Athletics<\/a>.<\/p>\n While most runners benefit from supershoes, the effect is variable<\/a> and not the same for all runners.<\/p>\n Researchers have suggested this is due to two ways in which the footwear interacts with the runner<\/a>.<\/p>\n Firstly, the foam and stiffening element can affect the “spring-like” bounce of the body as the foot hits and leaves the ground.<\/p>\n Secondly, they can change how the runner moves, including how the foot and ankle work, how long the foot stays on the ground, and the timing of energy return. As such, a shoe may be capable of storing and returning more energy, but the athlete still has to interact with it effectively.<\/p>\n
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