Kenyan Kipchoge shatters marathon world record in Berlin
Kenya’s Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge pulverised the marathon world record with a blistering run on Sunday, shaving off a staggering 78 seconds off the previous best and landing the one major running crown that had eluded him.
The 33-year-old, widely seen as the greatest marathon runner of the modern era, ran an official time of time of two hours, one minute and 39 seconds on a sunny autumn day along the flat inner-city course to smash Dennis Kimetto’s 2:02:57 record set at the same course in 2014.
“I lack words to describe this day,” said a beaming Kipchoge, a former world champion over 5,000 metres and marathon gold medallist at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016. “I am really grateful, happy to smash the world record.”
“They say you can miss it twice but not third time. So I want to thank everyone who has helped me,” said Kipchoge, who had won in Berlin in 2016 and 2017.
Kipchoge, who last year took part in the Nike Breaking Two project, where he ran two hours and 25 seconds with the aid of “illegal” in and out pacemakers, started off at a sizzling pace.
He quickly shook off his biggest opponent, Wilson Kipsang, to make it a oneman show. His three pacemakers were pushed to the limit to keep the tempo high as Kipchoge dipped well below world-record time by the halfway mark.
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