World half marathon champion Sebastian Sawe won the Valencia Marathon on Sunday, December 1, in superb fashion, narrowly missing out on the course record.
Sawe, who was making his debut in the marathon, was among four other Kenyans looking to smash Kelvin Kiptum's marathon record in Valencia in a highly-anticipated race.
After establishing himself in the half marathons, Sawe took up the challenge in the 42-km course in full stride, battling his Kenyan counterpart Daniel Mateiko for large parts of the race.
Notably, the Ethiopian duo of Birhanu Legese and Deresa Geleta were also dominant during the initial stages as they threatened to turn the Valencia marathon into an all-Ethiopian affair.
In the last 10 kilometers, however, 28-year-old Sawe broke away, from Mateiko, taking a commanding lead before crossing the line to take first place with a time of 2:02:05.
To put Sawe's feat into perspective, his time was a mere 20 seconds short of the course record, set by Kelvin Kiptum in 2022.
Ethiopia's Deresa Geleta emerged second in the marathon with a time of 02:02:38, while Mateiko took third at 02:04:24.
The other Kenyan in the race- Hillary Kipkoech, finished in 8th place, while Mathew Kimeli failed to place in the top 10.
Prize money: Following his feat, Sawe is set to pocket a whopping KSh10 million (70,000 Euros) which is given to the winner of the Valencia Marathon.
Second-place finishers who ran under 2:04:30 seconds will receive KSh 6.8 million (50,000 Euros), while the third-place finisher (Daniel Mateiko) who completed the course under 2:04:30 will pocket Ksh4.5 million (35,000 Euros).
The race had been further incentivised with a KSh135 million promise for anyone who would beat the late Kiptum's colossal course record, but Sawe fell short by a few seconds.
In the women's category, Ethiopians dominated with Megertu Alemu claiming first place with a time of 2:16:49. Uganda's Stella Chesang took second place with 2:18:26, while Ethiopia's Tiruye Mesfin took third with 2:18:35.
