Sydney Marathon organisers are aiming to bring sub-two hour stars Sabastian Sawe and Yomif Kejelcha to run in Australia in August – if the event can meet the new asking price after their stunning feats in London.
Sawe made sporting history in winning the London Marathon on Sunday when he became the first man to legally break the two-hour barrier for a marathon, smashing the existing world record by 65 seconds in a 1:59:30 run.
Second-placed finisher Kejelcha (1:59:41) also ran under two hours, and Jacob Kiplimo (2:00:28) also broke Kelvin Kiptum’s old world record.
The incredible scenes on The Mall in London captured the world’s attention, and none more than Sydney Marathon event director Wayne Larden, who is finalising the field of star runners for this year’s race on August 30.
Sydney debuted as the seventh World Marathon Major last year, and had Olympic gold medallists Sifan Hassan and Eliud Kipchoge in the field. World Marathon Major strikes deals with marquee stars to run their races, via lucrative appearance fees of between $100,000 and $250,000.
Having already engaged with the agents of the elite stars about the 2026 field, Larden said he will step up negotiations with the minders of Sawe, Kejelcha and Kiplimo following London.
“I’d love to have him here. We’re currently finalising our elite field now,” Larden said. “We start talking to the agents pretty well straight after our race, and right through the year. But we usually wait until after London to sort of get down to the nuts and bolts of it.
“I’d love to have Sebastian here for sure, after his stunning performance in the TCS London Marathon. But any of those top three would be awesome to have here.
“So we’re looking at all of our options. We will ascertain cost and see whether it fits in our budget, and see what else [Sawe] has got scheduled for later in the year.
“I couldn’t think of anything more exciting right now than having him in Sydney. I’d love to see Sawe out here racing some of those other big guns. But regardless of if we have him or not, we’re going to have a great field this year. We are talking to some awesome athletes.”
Sawe is the hottest property in world athletics but where he will race in the immediate future remains unknown.
Sydney is the next World Major marathon, but before London, Sawe was expected to be in the field for Berlin on September 27. He won in Berlin last year and experts were forecasting he would give the sub-two hour time a real crack in the German capital – not London – in 2026, given the Berlin course and conditions are considered to be much faster.
After he broke the world record and went under two hours in London, experts say Sawe could look to harness the conditions and lower it in Berlin, and ensure Kejelcha doesn’t take his record. The Ethiopian was in his debut marathon in London and statistically elite marathoners always improve in their second and third races.
But having achieved his goal, Sawe may instead look to cash in and accept the best financial offer, and tick off another Major marathon victory. The Chicago Marathon is on October 11 and New York is on November 1. Most elite stars will only run two or three marathons a year, with big training blocks in between.
“It could go either way, he might be open-minded to some other races for a different experience or a different world major title,” Larden said. “I’d like to think maybe he wants to chase all of them.”
There is no genuine prospect of anyone running under two hours in Sydney, however. The course is notoriously hilly, and has the most elevation (313 metres) of all the World Majors. For context, London has 127 metres of elevation and Berlin has 73m.
No-one has won all seven Marathon Majors; Kipchoge holds the record for most wins, with 11; five in Berlin, four in London and one in Chicago and Tokyo. Sawe has two wins in London and one in Berlin.
Larden said the impact of Kipchoge and Hasan in the 2025 field was huge as far as drawing media attention and masses of spectators, and signing one of the top three men in London would provide a similar impact.
Iain Payten is a senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.
