In his WR form yes but marathon is a tricky sport and you have to stay healthy.
Even if Kiptum would be alive it would be tough to win a head to head against Sawe in his current form.
Although he started his marathon career at a much later age, Sawe has been following Kiptum's marathon blueprint by running and winning Valencia and London for his first two marathons.
Sawe even followed a similar strategy as Kiptum to win London. Kiptum ran 61:40 in the first half of the race two years ago, followed by a big negative split. Sawe ran 61:30 in the first half today, followed by a negative split (although not nearly as fast as Kiptum's). They also surged at similar moments. Kiptum ran 4:23 at mile 20, Sawe ran 4:18 at mile 20. Kiptum covered 30K to 35K in 13:49, then 35K to 40K in 14:01; Sawe covered 30K to 35K in 13:56, then 35K to 40K in 14:20.
Kiptum smashed the world record in his third marathon. It will be interesting to see what Sawe does for his third marathon. He hasn't run as fast in his first two marathons as Kiptum did, but he's doing his best impression, almost as if he's paying homage.
This post was edited 36 seconds after it was posted.
And it was a little hot today with less pacemaking. Chicago should shell out for Korir but would they do a full-on WR attempt with Sawe there too. Could Valencia throw a bag at both with a 58-minute HM guy to take them through at least 30K at 2:00:30 pace…maybe
I reckon Korir will probably head to NYC marathon, while Sawe will go to Chicago for WR attempt. I think Kiplimo will have his own WR attempt at Valencia in December 2025.Kipchoge has already signed up for Sydney in August 2025.