Yomif Kejelcha has used the days since his historic London Marathon debut to make clear he sees 1:59:41 as a starting point rather than a ceiling. Speaking from Addis Ababa this week, the Ethiopian said the experience of running the second-fastest marathon in history, on his first attempt, has unlocked a confidence he had never quite found on the track. "Now I believe in myself," he told reporters. "I'm sure I can run faster — maybe one minute faster."
Kejelcha crossed the line on The Mall in 1:59:41, eleven seconds behind Kenya's Sabastian Sawe and four seconds inside the previous men's world record of 2:00:35 set by the late Kelvin Kiptum at Chicago in 2023. The two adidas-shod athletes effectively rewrote the men's marathon together in the closing miles, with Sawe nudging clear with a mile to run and Kejelcha holding form to make sure the sub-two club gained two members on the same Sunday. Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo finished third in 2:00:28, also inside Kiptum's old mark.
What is striking, four days on, is how unbothered Kejelcha appears to be by the fact that he was second. Asked whether finishing on Sawe's shoulder rather than ahead of him had stung, he said simply that the day was bigger than the result. "I cannot be angry about being second on a day like that," he said. "To run under two hours in a marathon, in your first marathon, with your friend — this is something I will tell my children." Kejelcha credited a six-month training block at altitude in Addis Ababa, lighter mileage than he had feared the marathon would demand, and what he called "amazing" weather on race day in London.
The bigger question is what comes next, and on that point Kejelcha is unusually open. He has ruled out a quick return over 26.2 miles — "the body needs respect after this," his coach Hussein Shibo confirmed — but has indicated that an autumn marathon is on the table, with Berlin on 27 September and Chicago on 11 October the obvious shortlist. Both courses are flatter than London. Both have a record of producing fast times. And both, in different ways, would test whether Kejelcha's brand of patient front-running can survive without Sawe alongside him to set the rhythm.
There is also the matter of what his run means for the rest of the men's field. Until Sunday, debut marathons were considered an act of cautious due diligence, even for athletes with elite track pedigrees. Kejelcha has changed that calculus in a single afternoon. The world half-marathon record holder, who ran 57:30 in Valencia in October 2024, has effectively shown that someone arriving from the track with the right preparation can land inside the all-time top two on day one. "I think short distances are always harder for me," he said. "The marathon — the marathon I like. It's faster, it's quicker, it's me."