马拉松破二！

April 26th, Sunday — London witnessed a "shower" the whole world didn't see coming.

This "shower" wasn't real rain — it was the result of a race.

Kenyan athlete Sabbé ran a time that no one could believe.

One hour, fifty-nine minutes, thirty seconds.

Did you hear that clearly?

Under two hours.

He became the first human in history to break the two-hour mark in an official marathon race.

What does that mean exactly?

Let me explain.

A marathon is a little over 42 kilometers in total.

A typical amateur takes around four hours to finish.

Professional athletes — the best in the world — used to need just over two hours at their fastest.

Going under two hours has been a dream of the sport.

A dream that, for decades, no one had achieved.

Why is it so hard?

Let's think about it.

To run 42 kilometers, you need to average under two minutes fifty seconds per kilometer.

Two minutes fifty seconds for one kilometer doesn't sound that fast.

But you have to keep that pace continuously for 42 kilometers.

You can't stop for even a second along the way.

You can't slow down.

You can't catch your breath.

The demand on the body is just too high.

People have done research on this.

Experts have analyzed whether the human body can actually run that fast.

Many experts used to say: probably not.

But Sabbé did it.

He didn't just do it — he made it look easy.

What's going on here?

Let's look at the previous record.

In 2023, there was a Kenyan named Kiptum.

He ran two hours and thirty-five seconds at the Chicago Marathon in the USA.

That was the world record at the time.

Incredibly fast.

Everyone said: Kiptum is very likely to break two hours in his next race.

Sadly, Kiptum later died in a car accident.

So he never realized that dream.

Surprisingly, a few years later, it was his fellow countryman Sabbé who fulfilled the dream.

And not just by going under two hours either.

Sabbé beat Kiptum's record by more than a minute.

A minute or so doesn't sound like much.

But in marathon terms, it's a huge improvement.

What's even more astonishing is that two other people also ran very fast that day.

Second place was Kojelcha, from Ethiopia.

He ran one hour, fifty-nine minutes, forty-one seconds.

Also under two hours.

And it was his first marathon ever!

Running that kind of time in your debut marathon — unprecedented.

"Unprecedented" means it has never happened before.

Third place was Kiplimo, from Uganda.

He ran two hours and twenty-eight seconds.

He didn't break two hours, but he was still faster than Kiptum's old world record.

So that day, three people all broke the previous world record.

This kind of thing has never happened in marathon history before.

Now let's talk about the women's race.

The women's race started earlier than the men's.

The winner was Asefa, from Ethiopia.

She ran two hours, fifteen minutes, forty-one seconds.

She was already the holder of the women's marathon world record.

"Holder" means the person who currently has the record.

This time, she improved her own record by another nine seconds.

So the women's marathon world record is still hers.

Now the question is —

Why 2026?

Why London?

Why these three people?

Let's analyze it.

First, running shoe technology has improved.

In recent years, many companies have been making a special kind of running shoe.

These shoes have something elastic inside.

"Elastic" means it bounces back when you press on it.

That bounce helps athletes run faster.

Some people call them "tech shoes."

Others say they're a bit like cheating.

But World Athletics says these shoes are allowed.

So now all the athletes wear them.

Second, training methods have advanced.

Today's athletes train more scientifically than before.

They use many scientific methods — analyzing heart rate, breathing, every aspect of the body.

That way they know how to train, how to eat, how to rest.

Then there's the weather.

The weather in London that day was great.

Not cold, not hot.

No wind.

Perfect running weather.

Lastly, it's the competition between athletes.

When three people are all running fast, they help each other.

I follow you, you follow him.

That way everyone runs faster.

If you're alone, you usually can't run that fast.

So this success was the result of many factors coming together.

So what about next time?

Some say more and more people will go under two hours from now on.

Maybe in a few years, going under two hours won't be a big deal.

Like many years ago, going under ten seconds was considered the limit of the 100 meters.

Now lots of people go under ten.

Maybe the marathon will be the same.

But no matter what, Sabbé will always be the first.

His name will be written into sports history.

The story of his day in London will be told for many, many years.

Now let's think — what does this have to do with ordinary people like us?

We aren't professional athletes.

We can't run a two-hour marathon.

But we can learn some things from this.

First, things that look impossible may actually be possible.

They just need more effort, better methods, more time.

Second, having a goal matters.

From a young age, Sabbé had a goal: to run the fastest.

He worked toward that goal every day.

Eventually, he made it.

We can have our own goals too.

Not necessarily running.

Maybe a goal at work, maybe a goal in our studies.

People with goals go further than people without.

Third, everyone has their own timing.

Sabbé broke the record at age thirty-one.

Among runners, thirty-one isn't young.

But he still did it.

So, don't think you're too late.

It's never too late to start.

That's the story of the 2026 London Marathon.

Sabbé from Kenya, one hour, fifty-nine minutes, thirty seconds.

The first runner in history to break two hours.

On April 26th, he changed the history of sport.