The fastest marathon ever

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The fastest marathon ever

Mon, Apr 27, 2026 ·

10 min read

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🚨 Headlines

🏒 Sweeps complete:The Hurricanes and Avalanche are moving onto the conference semifinals after sweeping the Senators and Kings, respectively. The Flyers, up 3-1 on the Penguins, could join them in the second round as soon as tonight.

🏀 Wolves lose two starters:The good news for the Timberwolves is that they're up 3-1 on the Nuggets. The bad news? Superstar Anthony Edwards will miss multiple weeks (knee) after exiting Game 4, and starting guard Donte DiVincenzo (Achilles) is out for the season.

⚾️ Red Sox clean house:The last-place Red Sox fired skipper Alex Cora and five other coaches on Saturday amid an abysmal start to the season. Former big leaguer Chad Tracy, who manages Boston's Triple-A team, will take over as interim manager.

⛳️ Captain Furyk:Jim Furyk has reportedly been named captain of the 2027 U.S. Ryder Cup team. The 17-time PGA Tour winner, who also led the squad in 2018, will be tasked with injecting new life into an American team that has lost two straight Ryder Cups, and nine of the last 12.

🎾 No Alcaraz in Paris:Two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz will miss next month's French Open as he recovers from a wrist injury, leaving the door wide open for Jannik Sinner to complete the career Grand Slam at Roland Garros.

See what else is trending on Yahoo Sports .

👟 Barrier broken

Today's top story is written by Dylan Dittrich — one of the sharpest minds in sports business, and an expert in sneakers. You'll be hearing a lot more from him soon.

On Sunday, Sabastian Sawe broke the most vaunted running barrier since Roger Bannister notched his sub-4 mile, clocking 1:59:30 at the London Marathon to become the first person to duck under the two-hour barrier in an official race.

The second-place finisher, Yomif Kejelcha, also crossed the line in under two hours, running 1:59:41 in his marathon debut.
Jacob Kiplimo rounded out the podium in 2:00:28, eclipsing the prior world record in a performance that would've been considered generational on any other day in history.

The race within the race:Both Sawe and Kejelcha are Adidas athletes, and their achievements dealt a dual blow to Nike's marathon credentials. In addition to shattering the late Kelvin Kiptum's world record, they also relegated Eliud Kipchoge's unofficial sub-2 performance in the Nike-sponsored "Breaking2" to footnote status.

Both runners wore Adidas' Adios Pro Evo 3 shoe, unveiled last week. You, too, can lace up the lightest racing shoe Adidas has ever produced for a mere $500 ( it goes on sale at 10am ET today ).
Most hobby joggers will pass, but sponsorship at this level is less about the specific product itself, and more about the halo effect of demonstrating technological prowess and excellence in performance. Mission accomplished.

The scoreboard:Of the 36 available podium places in the last six traditional marathon majors, athletes wearing Adidas sneakers account for 17, compared to seven for Asics, six for Nike, two for Under Armour, two for On and one each from Puma and Hoka.

Take that for data:Achievements of this magnitude invite skepticism in a sport too often marred by doping scandals. But Sawe has receipts.

In the buildup to his 2025 Berlin victory, Adidas contributed $50,000 to the Athletics Integrity Unit to cover the cost of testing him as frequently as possible — an effort to strike a victory for clean sport.
He was tested 25 times ahead of Berlin and reportedly followed a similar protocol ahead of London. Any disbelief in Sawe's performance, then, is the product of its sheer insanity rather than doping suspicions. $50,000, well spent.

Bottom line:He came. He Sawe. He conquered.

P.S. …Beyond supershoes, the biggest factor enabling recent leaps in marathon performance is fueling. Endurance athletes are training the gut to ingest insane amounts of carbs every hour, and advances from Maurten and other sports nutrition companies have made that easier. Here's how Sawe fueled on race day .

🏈 NFL Draft: Grades for every team

The 2026 NFL Draft is officially in the books. How did each team fare? Here are our official draft grades , courtesy of Nate Tice and Charles Robinson.

NFC East

Giants:A
Commanders:B+
Cowboys:B+
Eagles:B+

NFC North

Bears:B
Vikings:B
Lions:B-
Packers:C+

NFC South

Buccaneers:A
Saints:A-
Panthers:B
Falcons:C+

NFC West

Cardinals:B-
49ers:B-
Seahawks:B-
Rams:D+

AFC East

Patriots:B
Bills:C+
Dolphins:C
Jets:C-

AFC North

Browns:B+
Ravens:B
Steelers:B
Bengals:D

AFC South

Titans:A
Texans:B+
Colts:B
Jaguars:D-

AFC West

Chiefs:B+
Raiders:B
Broncos:C
Chargers:D

The NFL's traveling circus:The three-day event drew 805,000 fans to Pittsburgh's North Shore, smashing the previous attendance record held by Detroit (700,000 in 2024). Next up: The highly-anticipated 2027 NFL Draft on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

📸 Through the lens

Houston, Texas —Nelly Korda (-18) cruised to a wire-to-wire victory at the Chevron Championship, winning by five strokes to claim her third career major title and return to No. 1 in the world.

Historic start: Not only is Korda just the second woman to win three majors this decade (Minjee Lee), she's also the third woman ever to open a season with five consecutive top-two finishes (Karrie Webb in 2000; Annika Sorenstam in 2001).

Portland, Oregon —Victor Wembanyama filled up the stat sheet (27 points, 11 rebounds, 7 blocks, 4 steals) in his return from a concussion as the Spurs crushed the Trail Blazers in Sunday's rollercoaster Game 4 , turning a 17-point halftime deficit into a 114-93 victory to take a 3-1 series lead.

More NBA playoffs: The Rockets beat the Lakers, 115-96 , to avoid a sweep; The Knicks rebounded to beat the Hawks and even the series; The Raptors tied things up against the Cavs despite shooting just 32% ; The Celtics blew out the 76ers to go up 3-1.

Anaheim, California —The Ducks took a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Oilers on Sunday after Ryan Poehling's overtime game-winner just barely got over the line for a 4-3 victory, pushing the two-time defending Western Conference champions to the brink.

More NHL playoffs: The Lightning came back to beat the Canadiens , 3-2, to even the series; The Wild beat the Stars , 3-2 (OT), to even the series; The Sabres manhandled the Bruins , 6-1, to take a 3-1 lead.

Avondale, Louisiana —Brothers Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick held on to win the Zurich Classic by a stroke, birdieing the 72nd hole (thanks to Matt's clutch bunker shot ) to finish a tournament-record 31-under par.

Siblings on fire: Matt, the No. 3 golfer in the world, has won two straight events and three of his last four. Alex, No. 140 in the world, also won his previous start (on the DP World Tour), and Sunday's victory earned him his PGA Tour card through 2028.

💯 Big Numbers

⚾️ 34.2 scoreless innings

Padres closer Mason Miller earned his MLB-leading 10th save on Saturday in Mexico City against the Diamondbacks, while also extending his scoreless streak to a franchise-record 34.2 innings .

Record books:Miller is less than seven innings away from the all-time record for relievers (41 straight scoreless innings), set by Orioles closer Gregg Olson in 1989-90. But he's still a ways away from breaking the MLB record (59 innings), set by Dodgers starter Orel Hershiser in 1988.

🥎 169 home runs

Oklahoma softball has blasted a record-shattering 167 home runs this season, eclipsing their own mark of 161 set in 2021 for the most in NCAA Division I history. The Sooners are currently 46-6 (!), with 32 of those wins coming via the mercy rule (!!).

Freshman sensation:Oklahoma freshman Kendall Wells is responsible for 36 of the Sooners' 169 long balls, putting her just one shy of matching Laura Espinoza's NCAA single-season record set with Arizona in 1995. Espinoza reached that mark in 72 games; Wells has played just 51.

⚽️ 4th straight final

Manchester City scored two late goals in a thrilling 2-1 victory over Southampton on Saturday to become the first team ever to reach four consecutive FA Cup finals .

Last two standing:Chelsea blanked Leeds, 1-0 , in the other semifinal to clinch their first trip back to the title game since reaching three straight from 2020-22.

🎾 24 in a row

Jannik Sinner cruised past Elmer Møller on Sunday at the Madrid Open for his 24th consecutive victory in a Masters 1000 event, breaking a tie with Rafael Nadal for the fourth-longest streak ever.

Who's he chasing?Take a wild guess. The only men with longer streaks than Sinner are Novak Djokovic (31 straight in 2011; 30 straight in 2014-15) and Roger Federer (29 straight in 2005-06).

📺 Watchlist: Monday, April 27

🏀 NBA Playoffs

The top-seeded Pistons get things started on the road against the Magic (8pm ET, NBC) , who've taken a surprising 2-1 lead. Then the Thunder go for the sweep against the Suns in Phoenix (9:30pm, NBCSN), and the Timberwolves (up 3-1) will try to finish off the Nuggets in Denver (10:30pm, NBC) .

Right where they want 'em?Only 4% of NBA teams down 3-1 in a seven-game series have come back to win that series (13 of 298). But Denver is responsible for the last two instances (both in 2020), and they're suddenly facing a team that doesn't have its star player.

🏒 NHL Playoffs

Tonight's slate begins in Pittsburgh (7pm, ESPN) , where the Penguins (down 3-1) will try to extend the series against the Flyers. Then it's off to Salt Lake City, where the Mammoth hold a 2-1 lead against the Golden Knights (9:30pm, ESPN) .

So you're saying there's a chance?NHL teams facing 3-1 deficits have won the series 9% of the time (32 of 356), most recently in 2023. So while the Penguins aren't in great shape, history says they have a much better chance of advancing than the Nuggets.

More to watch:

⚾️ MLB:Rays at Guardians (6:10pm, FS1) … Cleveland rookie Parker Messick (3-0, 1.76 ERA) has the third-best ERA in baseball.
🎾 Tennis:Madrid Open (7:30am, Tennis) … Round of 32 for the men, Round of 16 for the women.

Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. Get tickets now!

⚾ MLB trivia

Aroldis Chapman notched his 1,341st strikeout on Sunday, passing Goose Gossage for second all-time among relievers.

Question:Who's the only reliever with more career strikeouts?

A) Craig Kimbrel

B) Billy Wagner

C) Hoyt Wilhelm

D) Mariano Rivera

Answer at the bottom.

🍿 Top plays of the weekend

Watch all 13.

Trivia answer:Hoyt Wilhelm (1,363 strikeouts)

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