Kipchoge, the king of the marathon

Eliud Kipchoge is the best marathon runner in history. The double Olympic champion broke the world record for the event in Berlin this Sunday, where he stopped the clock in 2:01:09, lowering his previous record by 30 seconds, also achieved on the streets of the German capital.

Kipchoge’s exhibition in Berlin was of such a caliber that he led almost five minutes (2:05:58) over the second classified, the Ethiopian Mark Korir. His compatriot Tadu Abate completed the podium (2:06:28).

The Kenyan, however, could not get below the two-hour barrier, his second major objective on the flat route of the Berlin marathon. At the Vienna Marathon in 2019 he set an unofficial record of 1:59.41, but it was not considered valid, as he was aided by 41 hares relaying each other in groups with seven runners around him, changing every five kilometers.

From the start it was clear that Eliud Kipchoge was going for the record. With perfect weather conditions, 11 degrees of temperature and cloudy skies but without rain or wind, the Kenyan was signing crazy partials and improving those he established in 2018. He signed 14:14 at 5 km (10 seconds faster), 28 :23 at 10 km (38 seconds faster), 42:33 at 15 km (1 minute 5 seconds faster) and 56:45 at 20 km (1 minute 11 seconds faster). In fact, halfway through the race he clocked a 59:51, one minute and 15 seconds faster than in 2018.

15 agonizing final kilometers

Kipchoge had three hares, Moses Koech, Noah Kipkemboi and Philemon Kiplimo, but only the last one lasted until kilometer 25, when the Kenyan was left alone to face the challenge of the world record. At that time, Kipchoge maintained an advantage of 66 seconds with respect to the 2018 mark, but as the kilometers passed, exhaustion began to take its toll on the Kenyan who saw how the margin to beat his world record was shrinking. In fact, at kilometer 30 he set a time of 01:25:40, just one minute and five seconds better than four years ago.

With the clock as the maximum enemy, the Kenyan reached kilometer 35 with ‘only’ 52 seconds less than in his previous mark (01:40.10 by 01:41.02). In the final stretch, the advantage continued to decline and he was planted at kilometer 35 with a margin of 36 seconds (01:54:53) and clear signs of running on the limit.

In a few last meters surrounded by the public, he was able to break the clock and establish a new world record, the eighth consecutive time that the world record has been broken in the marathon in Berlin, with a time of 2:01:09.

With this new record and the difficulty of getting below two hours in the marathon, as Kipchoge himself has said on several occasions, he will look for new challenges such as winning the six majors, of which he has not achieved it in Boston and New York, in addition to a third Olympic gold in Paris 2024.