Sabastian Sawe: I want to express myself at the highest level in Berlin
Fast forward to 2025, and Sebastian Sawe is now an established road racer and two-time marathon winner.
He set a marathon world lead on his debut at the 2024 Valencia Marathon with a time of 2:02:05.
That was just 12 seconds slower than the late Kelvin Kiptum‘s record-breaking debut on the same course in 2022.
Some five months ago, Sawe won his first World Marathon Major, blowing away the leaders at the London Marathon.
The 30-year-old is in good spirits days ahead of what could be another monumental race in his career.
“Berlin will be a good race for me, if I will feel like I have given all my best,” the 2023 world half marathon champion said.
“I can’t predict what will happen, but I hope for good conditions to express myself at the highest level possible.”
Kipchoge was the last of the seven men to break the marathon world record in Berlin. That was a year before Kiptum blazed to the 2:00:35 world record at the 2023 Chicago Marathon.
As he tapered his training, Sawe kept a close eye on the men’s marathon at the ongoing World Championships in Tokyo. After two hours of intense racing, both the men and women’s marathon ended with a sprint for the tape.
Tanzania’s Alphonce Simbu won the race by just 0.03 seconds, while Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya topped the women’s race by 0.2 seconds.
Sawe is a strong finisher, but he hopes he can control and dictate the pace from start to finish in Berlin.
“Finishing a marathon in a sprint is no longer something so unusual,” he said.
“This is probably due to the high level of competitors nowadays. Of course, when it comes to tactical races like a World championship, I think it is easier to have a sprint finish.”