Eliud Kipchoge Sets Marathon World Record
As the clock struck 5 a.m. on Sunday morning, most of us were sound asleep recovering from either a late Saturday night, schoolwork or a tiring game-day.
However, across the Atlantic, Kenyan marathoner Eliud Kipchoge had just crossed the finish line of the Berlin Marathon in 2:01:09, the world’s fastest official marathon ever.
Although already known as the greatest marathoner ever, Kipchoge, at age 37 once again pushes the limits how far we think the human body can go. Despite how ridiculous this feat is, if there is a chance that you have heard of Kipchoge before, this will not exactly come as a surprise.
This is his second time breaking the marathon world record, as he obliterated his own world record mark of 2:01:39, which also he set in the Berlin Marathon four years ago. In addition, he also ran the first sub-two-hour marathon (1:59:40) in an unofficial time trial set in Vienna, Austria in the fall of 2019.
This however will not be ratified as a world record as the event purposely failed to meet several requirements that would deem it a record eligible event.
These three events are just a fraction of his marathon victories. More so, it is a monumental feat for a professional to win a single marathon major in their career after dozens of attempts. Kipchoge, however, boasts an absurd record of 15 major titles and has only lost two major marathons ever over his over twenty-year career.
While any world record looks flashy on paper, just how fast is Kipchoge’s mark? The average splits of his 2:01:09 marathon are as follows; 60:34 per half marathon, 14:21 per 5km and 4:37.2 per mile.
Most elite runners cannot even hold Kipchoge’s pace for half this distance. To put this pace into further perspective, Kipchoge was designated three pacemakers to set the pace through halfway. However, out of the thousands of world class marathoners on the professional marathon circuit, only 37 of them ran fast enough this year to even be capable of pacing him through a half marathon, let alone a full marathon.
In addition, only one American in history has ever run Kipchoge’s pace for a half marathon. Even further, if a high school boy were to run Kipchoge’s pace for only a 5k race (14:21), they would likely have a full ride athletic scholarship to any collegiate running program of their choosing.
Overall, while most are unaware of his success, he is arguably one of the greatest and most dominant athletes to ever live.
Despite his age and already unmatched resume, his career is far from over. According to recent interviews, he has the goal of winning all six marathon majors, with only the Boston Marathon and the New York City Marathon left to be conquered.
Better yet, we could potentially also see another world record fall in his career as in his post-race interview, Kipchoge claimed there was “still more” in his legs.
Only time will tell for Kipchoge, as his well known mantra: “No human is limited” could present even more ridiculous results for years to come.