Sabastian Sawe won The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race’s men’s elite division Thursday with a time of 28:03. He currently is the No. 1-ranked road racer in the world. This is Sawe’s first season of competition in the U.S., according to the Atlanta Track Club.

The 29-year-old Kenyan has a personal best of 26:49, the second-fastest 10K time in the world last year, and the reigning World Half Marathon champion sits on top of the 2024 leaderboard for the fastest half marathon in the world so far this year, the track club said.

Here are a few postrace questions and answers from Sawe.

Q: Why did you choose to come to Atlanta and race?

A: In this career of athletics, I’m like trying to be where we have not been. So it was my choice. I’m trying to run here.

Q: What is your message to young runners who see you as an inspiration and motivation? Any words of wisdom?

A: Yeah, running is so good. It needs special and hard work. Yeah.

Q: Anything else you’d like to say to your fans? Back home in Kenya?

A: I wish them a happy time. I represented them well, and I clicked (called) them and wish them a nice evening there.

Elite men’s winner Sabastian Sawe crosses the finish line of the 55th running of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta on Thursday, July 4, 2024.   (Jason Getz / AJC)

Credit: Jason Getz / AJC

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Credit: Jason Getz / AJC

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