Kenyan’s Sebastian Sawe and Rosemary Wanjiru triumphed at the Berlin Marathon, held under unusually warm conditions for one of the world’s fastest courses.
Sawe, 29, confirmed his dominance as the world’s top active marathoner, winning the men’s race in an unofficial 2:02:16 — nearly four minutes clear — for his third victory in just three career marathons.
He previously clocked the second-fastest debut marathon in history with 2:02:05 in Valencia (2024) before winning the London Marathon in 2:02:27. Sawe closed 2024 with the year’s fastest time and now holds the two quickest marks of 2025.
The world record remains 2:00:35, set by the late Kelvin Kiptum at the 2023 Chicago Marathon
Sawe is the fifth-fastest man in history behind Kiptum, Eliud Kipchoge (2:01:09), Kenenisa Bekele (2:01:41) and Sisay Lemma (2:01:48).
Wanjiru, 30, clocked an unofficial 2:21:05, holding off Dera Dida of Ethiopia by three seconds for the second major marathon title of her career.
Wanjiru finished second in Berlin in 2022 in her marathon debut, then won the 2023 Tokyo Marathon. She is the 10th-fastest woman in history with a personal best of 2:16:14 from a runner-up at Tokyo 2024.
