Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe won the 2026 London Marathon on Sunday in a record time of 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds, becoming the first runner to complete a marathon in under two hours.
Yet while Sawe’s victory and record may be the headline coming out of London, there were many other stories to be told. More specifically, there were other milestones that were established on Sunday, as recognized by Guinness World Records.
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For instance, if you’ve ever wondered what the fastest time someone ran a marathon while wearing a suit and dress shoes, Britain’s Boudewijn Dominicus completed the race in 3:21:42 in impeccable attire (and as temperatures neared 70 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the event).
Hopefully, someone will check back on to see how his feet, knees and ankles are doing after running 26.2 miles in formal shoes, rather than the top-flight shoes that competitors like Sawe were wearing. (Dominicus didn’t even try to get by with dress sneakers.)
The Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 shoes were worn by four of the top five finishers in the men’s race and the winner of the women’s event, Tigst Assefa. Those sneakers retail for $500.
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Could you run a world-class marathon in clogs? Britain’s Harley Smith completed the race in 2:47:42 while wearing the foam footwear.
Other competitors earned their way into the Guinness record books by running the London Marathon in costumes. Iain Gregor, also from Britain, ran the fastest marathon time while dressed as a train. (Real ones know he was dressed as Thomas the Tank Engine.) He completed the race in 4:43:46.
Other records set in costume included James Dowsett dressed as a knight (though not a full suit of armor) in 4:21:10, Ben Green finishing in 2:48:15 dressed as a supervillain (Specifically, The Riddler — Holy copyright infringement, Batman!) and Archie Hunt ran while dressed as a book character (Captain Underpants) in 2:27:41.
Among more serious and impressive achievements, Jennifer Ferris set the record for fastest marathon run by someone with a double mastectomy (3:24:45) and Megan Sullivan established the mark for a runner with a unilateral hip replacement (4:44:33).
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The full list of Guinness records set or broken at the 2026 London Marathon can be read here.
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