Nairobi, April 30 -- Kenyan marathon runner Sebastian Sawe was feted by President William Ruto on Thursday after becoming the first person to complete an official race in less than two hours.

Sawe's winning time of one hour 59 minutes and 30 seconds at the London Marathon on Sunday shattered one of athletics' most elusive barriers, improving on the previous world record by more than one minute.

After the runner's aircraft was greeted with a traditional water-cannon salute when it landed at Nairobi's international airport late on Wednesday, Ruto welcomed 31-year-old Sawe at State House, awarding him Sh8 million.

"You have not only broken a record. You have expanded the horizon of human potential," Ruto said at a ceremony attended by gov...