The Kenyan runner broke his own world record, Sunday in Germany, by completing the legendary distance of 42.195 kilometers in 2 hours 1 minute and 9 seconds an exceptional performance.
By
Already considered the largest marathoner in the history of sport, the Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge broke, Sunday September 25 in Berlin, the world record he had set in 2018, also on the German event. Kipchoge completed the traditional distance of 42.195 kilometers in 2 hours 1 minute and 9 seconds. Four years ago, the Kenyan had brought the record to 2 hours 1 minute and 39 seconds.
To measure the performance of Kenyan well, just imagine running a 100 meters in 17 seconds. For those who are healthy, it is generally feasible. But reissuing the exercise 420 times, without break, in two hours of time, is a completely different matter. This is the feat that Kipchoge achieved Sunday in Berlin.
Kipchoge, double Olympic champion, approaches another of his legendary performances, a Marathon completed in Vienna, in 2019, in 1 hour 59 minutes and 41 seconds, but which could not be approved due to the conditions particular in which it had been carried out. In Austria, during an event mounted by him, Kipchoge was then helped by forty-one “hares”, runners accompanying him at the desired speed, who took turns around him by group of seven all 5 kilometers.
“One day, a human being”
This Sunday in Berlin, a marathon whose course is conducive to the best performance as it is flat, Kipchoge was also accompanied by hares for part of the race. But this time in all regularity, these devoted partners fading once their mission fulfilled, after 25 kilometers.
Halfway through, it was already obvious that the world record was threatened, the Kenyan signing an impressive 59-minute and 51 seconds on the distance of a half-marathon. At the 30th kilometer, Kipchoge went in 1 hour 25 minutes and 40 seconds. In 40th, his time was 1 hour 54 minutes and 49 seconds.
Questioned, Friday, on his hopes for this event where the best know how to program their performance precisely according to the training done previously, Kipchoge said “expect a very good race”. And to add: “If I do a good race, I will break my personal record”, namely the world record. His initial plan was therefore made without a hitch. Lucid, the Kenyan still did not expect to “run within two hours in Berlin”, predicting however that “one day, a human being will run a normal marathon” by breaking this symbolic barrier.
This success also allows Kipchoge to equal another record, that of the number of victories during the Berlin marathon, which he now shares with another “legend” of athletics, the Ethiopian Haile Gebreselassie, Four times winner of the German race.