In Germany, Kipchoge establish new world record
Eliud Kipchoge, a famous Kenyan, ran the Berlin marathon on Sunday in 2hours, 01 minutes, and 9 seconds, breaking his own record by 30 seconds.
At the midway point, the two-time Olympic winner in Rio and Tokyo appeared poised to break the elusive two-hour barrier.
However, despite a minor slowdown, the 37-year-old managed to beat his previous best from Berlin in 2018.
He gave his squad the credit for the win after the race.
“I was so happy with my preparation,” Kipchoge told German television.
“The world record is because of real teamwork.”
When asked if he was already planning to return to Berlin to attempt the two-hour mark, Kipchoge responded that his attention was on celebrating his success.
“Let’s schedule it for another day. I have to celebrate this achievement.”
With a time of 2:05:58, Kenyan Mark Korir came in second place behind his countryman, and Ethiopian Tadu Abate took third with 2:06:28.
Andamlak Belihu of Ethiopia, who ran with Kipchoge for over two-thirds of the race, held on to finish fourth.
Ethiopian Tigist Assefa set a course record in the women’s field by running the third-fastest time in history in 2:15:37.
Assefa shockingly smashed her previous record by 18 minutes despite not being one of the pre-race favorites.
Kipchoge, who on Friday claimed his only objective was “to run a good race,” pushed ahead, apparently aiming for both a world record and a time under two hours.
For the first 10 kilometers, a group of about seven runners followed Kipchoge. After 15 kilometers, however, 2021 champions Guye Adola and Belihiu broke away.
After 18 kilometers, Adola was unable to keep up and started to slip behind, while Kipchoge and Belihu completed the half-marathon in less than an hour.
After 25 kilometers, Kipchoge emerged on his own and was still on track to finish in under two hours, but he started to slow down a little bit despite still having the world record in his sights.
By winning four Berlin Marathons, Kipchoge joined Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie, who dominated the race from 2006 to 2009.
With 15 of his 17 career victories in the marathon, including his two Olympic titles and 10 World Marathon Majors triumphs, he has an unrivaled record in the discipline.
Four women ran faster than two hours and twenty minutes, making the women’s field one of the fastest in marathon history.
Only American Kiera D’Amato, one of the participants, had ever run faster than the record-breaking time.
With a time of 2:18:00, Kenyan Rosemary Wanjiru finished second in her first-ever marathon, posting the second-fastest female debut time in history.
Tigist Abayechew of Ethiopia finished third in 2:18:03, and Workenesh Edesa of the same country also finished under 20:00.
D’Amato finished sixth in 2:21:48.
AFP
