Sub-Two History: Sawe Leads Moment of the Year Finalists

Athletics has spent decades chasing barriers that once looked untouchable, and in 2026 three of them fell or were matched in ways that stopped the sport in its tracks. World Athletics has now narrowed its inaugural Moment of the Year award to three finalists, and the shortlist reads like a tour of the season's greatest days: Sabastian Sawe's first officially recognised sub-two-hour marathon, Josh Kerr's world mile record, and Botswana's roaring home victory in the men's 4x400 metres relay.

The finalists were announced on Tuesday, 3 November, after a fan vote on the official World Athletics app cut an original list of 18 nominees down to three. A panel of World Athletics experts will now choose the winner, who will be revealed live on stage at the World Athletics Awards in Monaco on Sunday, 29 November. Alongside the new award, that ceremony will also hand out honours including World Athlete of the Year, Rising Star and Coach of the Year.

The finalist that changed the marathon forever

Sawe's case is the simplest to make, because his moment did not just win a race — it rewrote what the marathon is understood to be. On 26 April 2026, the Kenyan won the London Marathon in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds, becoming the first athlete ever to run an officially recognised marathon in under two hours.

The scale of the breakthrough is best measured against what came before. The previous world record, 2:00:35, had been set by the late Kelvin Kiptum in Chicago in October 2023. Sawe took 65 seconds off it. Eliud Kipchoge had famously run 1:59:41 in Vienna in 2019, but that was a specially staged exhibition with rotating pacemakers and controlled conditions, so it never counted as an official record. Sawe did it in a real race, against a real field, on a London course that is not even considered one of the fastest in the world.

The way he ran it made it even more remarkable. Sawe passed halfway in 1:00:29 and then ran the second half faster, in 59:01 — a negative split at a pace most elite runners cannot hold for a single half-marathon, let alone the second half of a marathon. Such was the quality of the race that second-placed Yomif Kejelcha also dipped under two hours, clocking 1:59:41 on his marathon debut, while Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo finished third in 2:00:28. Both men also beat Kiptum's old world record. Amos Kipruto was fourth in 2:01:39. It was, by any measure, the deepest marathon ever run.

Sawe's rise had hinted at something special. He made his marathon debut with victory in Valencia in December 2024 in 2:02:05, then won in London and Berlin in 2025 in 2:02:27 and 2:02:16 respectively. He had targeted the world record in Berlin before heat ended that bid, and he arrived in London carrying a foot problem from that build-up. None of it mattered on the day. Afterwards he even suggested faster was possible, a claim that now sounds less like bravado and more like a warning to every marathoner alive.

Kerr's mile and Botswana's home roar

If Sawe's moment was about a barrier, Josh Kerr's was about a record that had stood as one of middle-distance running's great marks. The Briton ran the mile in 3:42.66 at the London Diamond League meeting in July, setting a new world record in an event steeped in history. The mile has always carried a romance all its own — four laps, one clock, nowhere to hide — and Kerr's run gave the 2026 season its defining track moment.

The third finalist is different again, and that is precisely why it belongs. Botswana's men's 4x400 metres relay team won on home soil at the World Athletics Relays in Gaborone in May, clocking a championship record of 2:53.47 in front of their own crowd. Relay victories are rarely nominated alongside individual world records, but a home triumph of that quality, in an event where four runners must each hold their nerve, captured something the other two moments could not: a whole stadium, and a whole country, sharing one finish line. It is also a reminder that African athletics in 2026 is not a one-man story — two of the three finalists are African, with Kenya's Sawe joined by Botswana's quartet.

Kenya had another contender in the original 18: Agnes Ngetich, whose exploits in the women's half marathon had earned her a nomination. She did not make the final three, a reminder of how strong the shortlist is. When a half-marathon star of her calibre misses the cut, the award is doing its job.

Why the vote matters beyond one trophy

Moment of the Year is a new award, and its first winner will set its tone. By design it rewards more than fast times: it is meant to honour the occasions that generated emotion and stayed with fans long after the finish line. That is why the fan vote mattered — supporters, not just officials, chose the three moments that defined their season — and why the expert panel's final call will be watched closely.

There is a genuine debate to be had. Sawe's marathon is the performance of the year by any statistical measure; it broke a barrier that had stood since the sport began. Kerr's mile is the purest track record of the three, a mark in a classic event that had not been seriously threatened for years. Botswana's relay is the emotional pick, the one fans in the stadium will tell their grandchildren about. Whichever wins in Monaco, the shortlist itself already tells the story of 2026: a year when athletics found new limits and then ran straight past them.

What it means for Pakistan's athletics fans

For Pakistani fans, the shortlist lands at a sobering moment for the country's own athletics hopes. Olympic javelin champion Arshad Nadeem, the man who gave Pakistan its greatest athletics day with his 92.97-metre gold in Paris in 2024, has endured a difficult 2026. He finished ninth at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow with 77.41 metres, fifth at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship with a season-best 81.49 metres, and fourth at the Asian Games in Nagoya with 80.29 metres, missing the podium after three fouls in his final three attempts.

Those numbers are not a verdict on a career — champions have poor seasons, and Nadeem's Olympic record still stands — but they do show how unforgiving the top level has become. In a year when Sawe ran under two hours and a new generation of throwers led by Sri Lanka's Rumesh Pathirage has pushed the javelin beyond 88 metres, standing still is the same as going backwards. Pakistan's domestic scene, by contrast, showed signs of life at the 54th National Athletics Championship in Karachi in October, where WAPDA topped the medal table — a reminder that the talent pipeline exists, even if the bridge to world medals still needs building.

The lesson of the Moment of the Year shortlist, for Pakistan as much as anyone, is that breakthroughs come to athletes and systems willing to chase them. Sawe was not a favourite for history when he debuted in Valencia less than two years ago. Botswana were not supposed to beat the world's best relay squads at home. Kerr was not supposed to rewrite the mile. All three did it anyway.

The weekend ahead: Athens returns to where it began

Athletics fans do not have long to wait for the next big stage. The Athens Marathon takes place this weekend, on 7–8 November, finishing in the Panathenaic Stadium — the marble arena of the first modern Olympics. This year runners will be greeted by a brand-new track: the old surface, cracked and no longer meeting World Athletics specifications, has been replaced with a German-made, World Athletics-certified system in blue with an ecru infield, reflecting the colours of the Greek flag. The stadium's Pentelic marble is also undergoing its first organised cleaning in around 120 years, with the full upgrade programme due for completion in 2027.

It is a fitting coda to the season the Moment of the Year finalists defined. The marathon began as a legend about a messenger running to Athens; this weekend, thousands of runners will finish where that legend is honoured, on a track rebuilt for the modern era. Sawe, Kerr and Botswana's relay men will be watching Monaco on 29 November to learn who takes the first Moment of the Year crown. The rest of the sport will be watching what comes next — because if 2026 taught us anything, it is that the next barrier is already being chased.

Images: hero — runners at the 2026 London Marathon, 26 April 2026, by Acabashi, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons; inline images are illustrative marathon photos via Wikimedia Commons. Photos are illustrative and are not photos of the award finalists themselves.

Sources: World Athletics Moment of the Year finalists reporting by Mozzart Sport, Radio Generation, A Mile A Minute, SportsNow, Kenya Today, Eastleigh Voice and Benin Web TV (3–4 November 2026); London Marathon race reporting by BBC Sport, Al Jazeera, Michezo Afrika and Pulse Sports; Arshad Nadeem season reporting by The News, Geo Super and A-Sports; Athens Marathon stadium reporting by Greek Travel Pages (3–4 November 2026).