TIME magazine has published its first TIME100 Sports list, an inaugural ranking of the 100 most influential figures in global sport. Three runners made the cut, each with a major news year behind them.
Sabastian Sawe of Kenya was named an Innovator. Nikki Hiltz of the United States was placed in the Icons category. Faith Kipyegon, also of Kenya, was recognized as a Leader.
Sabastian Sawe, the man who broke two hours
The Kenyan marathoner became the first person to break the two-hour barrier in an official, record-eligible competition. At the 2026 London Marathon on April 26, Sawe crossed the line in 1 hour, 59 minutes, 30 seconds. An on-site BBC reporter called it “one of the greatest human achievements we’ve ever had in sport.”
Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha finished 11 seconds behind Sawe, also under the two-hour mark. In the women’s race the same day, Tigst Assefa set a women’s marathon world record of 2:15:41. All three athletes raced in Adidas Pro Evo 3 supershoes, which sold out within minutes when they went on sale the next day.
The training behind the result was steep. According to TIME, Sawe averaged 125 miles per week over the six weeks leading into London. When he landed back in Nairobi, he was greeted with a traditional water-cannon salute.
Faith Kipyegon, still chasing four
Kipyegon was already one of the most decorated middle-distance runners in history before her recent attempt at the four-minute mile. She is the first runner to win three straight Olympic golds in the 1,500 meters. She added a silver medal in the 5,000 at the 2024 Paris Games.
A study published last year in the journal Royal Society Open Science argued that Kipyegon, the world-record holder in the mile, could break four minutes given the right race setup. She tried in a Nike-organized race in Paris and fell about six seconds short. A week later she went to the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, and broke her own world record in the 1,500 meters.
Kipyegon will return to Oregon this summer to run the mile at the Pre. Breaking four remains a difficult ask. The attempt itself, win or miss, has already pulled the women’s mile into a new conversation.
Nikki Hiltz, mile champion and activist
Hiltz, 31, won their fourth consecutive USA Track & Field national title in the indoor 1,500 meters this year, bringing their career national title count to 10. In 2023, Hiltz became the first out trans, nonbinary athlete to win a USATF national title.
Hiltz was assigned female at birth, came out as nonbinary in 2021, and has continued to compete in women’s events. They have used their platform to advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, including pushing back against the International Olympic Committee’s March 2026 decision to ban trans women and some intersex athletes from female events.
“Attacks on trans people have consistently led to more policing and regulation of ALL women’s bodies,” Hiltz wrote on social media after the IOC announcement. The post is cited in TIME’s profile.
A sport having a moment
The TIME100 Sports list is the magazine’s first attempt to rank sport’s most influential people in the same way it has long ranked figures in politics, business and entertainment. The 100 names span team sports, individual events, coaches, executives and other figures around the industry.
Track claimed three of those 100 spots. The sport’s recent run of record-breaking performances, from Sawe’s sub-two-hour marathon to Kipyegon’s 1,500 world record to Hiltz’s growing national title count, has been hard for outside observers to ignore.
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