LONDON — Yomif Kejelcha finished second at the 2026 TCS London Marathon in 1:59:41, completing his first competitive marathon in under two hours. The 28-year-old long-distance runner crossed the line 11 seconds behind winner Sabastian Sawe, who became the first man to run an official marathon in under two hours.

Jacob Kiplimo placed third in 2:00:28, beating the previous world record set by Kelvin Kiptum at the 2023 Chicago Marathon. Sawe's winning time was 65 seconds faster than that previous mark.

Kejelcha and Sawe ran side by side for much of the race and dropped Kiplimo between the 18th and 21st miles. Sawe took the lead with one mile remaining. Near the finish, Kejelcha looked at his watch and saw he was under two hours, and he congratulated Sawe after crossing the line.

"This is so crazy. It's too hard to believe. I don't have words for it really," Kejelcha said after the race. Before the start, he had told reporters he planned to run with the first group but did not expect to finish under two hours, predicting a time of about 2:03 to 2:02.

Kejelcha said he was not disappointed by the narrow margin of defeat. "I'm not upset. I'm not angry. I'm very, very happy because I broke two hours," he said. "It's an 11 second difference, so I think it's not too far for me to break again."

Kejelcha previously set the world indoor mile record in 2019, broke the half-marathon world record in Valencia in 2024, and won silver in the 10,000 meters at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo. He also holds the title of fastest-ever marathon debut after running under two hours in his first competitive marathon. He said he hopes to finish his next marathon in 1:58, though he does not yet have a plan for his next race.

Kejelcha trained for six months at high altitude in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, before the race, and his wife prepared meals to support his food program. He wore adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 shoes during the race, weighing barely more than a deck of cards.