In 2023, when Kelvin Kiptum finished the Chicago Marathon in 2:00:35, to break the world record by 34 seconds, which looked nearly unbeatable. But Sabastian Sawe of Kenya proved everyone wrong at the London Marathon, where he crossed the line in 1:59:30 – a time that sits 65 seconds faster than Kiptum’s. However, after a performance like this, a question that arises is, how much does a win at this level actually pay?

Well, a London Marathon is already one of the best-paid road races around. Normally, the winner receives around $55,000 as the base prize, but once you begin to break records, the prize money increases.

If runners go under 2:02:00 for men, they can pick up an extra $150,000 bonus. Then there’s another $125,000 for a world record, and $25,000 more for a course record. That’s why Sawe’s day in London is being talked about in the same breath as big financial wins. With his performance, his estimated total comes to around 6x more than basic, that’s $355,000 (£263,000), combining the winner’s prize with performance bonuses.

After the race, Sawe became emotional and said, “I am so happy, it is a day to remember for me. We started the race well and approaching the end of finishing the race I was feeling strong. Reaching the Finish Line I saw the time and I was so excited to run a world record today.” It felt more like relief and joy than anything else. And he was not alone in pushing limits.

Right behind him, Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha also ran one of the most striking marathon debuts in recent memory, finishing second in 1:59:41. He also went under two hours and still finished faster than the previous world record. As a result, he won the $30,000 second-place finish and was eligible for bonuses of $150,000. But for Sawe, winning this wasn’t easy.

Sabastian Sawe goes through a harsh process to prove himself

The rise of Sabastian Sawe began on 1 December 2024, when he first won the Valencia Marathon in 2:02:05 (at that time, the world’s fastest). Months later, in April 2025, he followed it up by taking the London Marathon in 2:02:27, then later that year, in September, he returned to win the Berlin Marathon in 2:02:16.

But when he came to prominence, it wasn’t about the times. It was the skepticism surrounding Kenyan distance running. There have been more than 140 doping sanctions against Kenyan athletes since 2017 by the Athletics Integrity Unit, and this meant every big performance attracted more attention.

Rather than shy away from that, Sawe and his staff did the opposite. He accepted an enhanced anti-doping regime with Adidas and the AIU, with Adidas providing some $50,000 to help fund the testing system in place around his marathon build-ups.

What made it intense was the scale as Sawe underwent around 25 out-of-competition tests in a roughly two-month period. They involved blood and urine samples, more sophisticated lab testing, such as isotope ratio testing. And it didn’t end there!

In 2026, he was still under the same enhanced system with around 25 tests per year as part of continuous monitoring, but spread out across the racing season. “I wanted to prove to the world that we Kenyans can achieve amazing results without there always [being] the dark cloud of doping over our heads,” Sawe wrote in an email to LetsRun.com. “I wanted people to know that whatever happened in the race, I was not to be doubted.”

So when Sawe finally succeeded at the elite level, it wasn’t just speed or ability. It was after months of racing, lots of traveling, and a training routine that had been defined by the presence of the tests.