Kenya enjoyed a historic day at the 51st Berlin Marathon as Sabastian Sawe stormed to victory in the men’s race with a world-leading time of 2:02:16, while Rosemary Wanjiru sealed a thrilling win in the women’s race clocking 2:21:04.

Despite scorching conditions with temperatures reaching 25°C, Sawe produced the ninth fastest marathon time in history and set what has been dubbed a “warm weather world record,” the fastest ever recorded in such high temperatures.

Sawe finished almost five minutes clear of Japan’s Akira Akasaki (2:06:15), with Ethiopia’s Chimdessa Debele third in 2:06:57. Germany’s Hendrik Pfeiffer delighted home fans by placing eighth in 2:09:14, the best finish by a German man in Berlin since 1990.

Although Sawe’s time was 11 seconds shy of his personal best set in Valencia in 2024, it cemented his position among the all-time greats. Only the late Kelvin Kiptum’s world record of 2:00:35 and Eliud Kipchoge’s course record of 2:01:09 from 2022 stand above him.

In the women’s race, Rosemary Wanjiru showed nerves of steel, holding off Ethiopia’s Dera Dida by just three seconds to win in 2:21:04. Another Ethiopian, Azmera Gebru, followed closely in 2:21:29.

Germany celebrated personal bests from Fabienne Königstein, who placed sixth in 2:22:17 to become the third fastest German woman in history, and Domenika Mayer, who finished eighth in 2:23:16.

The triumph marked Kenya’s first men’s and women’s double in Berlin since 2018, when Eliud Kipchoge broke the world record and Gladys Cherono won the women’s race.

With more than 55,000 participants from 160 nations, the Berlin Marathon once again lived up to its reputation as one of the world’s premier road races and this year, it belonged to Kenya.