Heat’s back on Eliud after his inconceivable marathon feat

ONE OF the last medals to be dished out at these Tokyo Games is also one of the most anticipated and certainly the most hardearned, with the men’s marathon scheduled to take place on the stifling streets of Sapporo this weekend.

All eyes will be on world-record holder Eliud Kipchoge as he looks to retain his Olympic crown and shake off his defeat at the much-delayed London Marathon in October.

Kipchoge had won a remarkable ten consecutive marathons – including four in London – dating back to 2013 but crossed the line in the Mall in eighth place more than a minute behind Shura Kitata, of Ethiopia.

The 36-year-old’s unexpected defeat prompted some to suggest time may have caught up with Kipchoge and, though he returned to winning ways at the NN Mission Marathon in the Netherlands, it may take another Olympic gold medal to silence those who speak of the great man’s demise.

Should he succeed, Kipchoge will become just the third man to win back-to-back Olympic marathon titles, and the first in more than 40 years.

However, even that will fall short of arguably his finest achievement, the sub-two-hour marathon, a previously inconceivable feat he chalked off in 2019 and the subject of an absorbing new film Kipchoge: The Last Milestone [Sky Documentaries].

Coming from an impressive cinematic line-up that sees Jake Scott, son of award-winning movie-maker Ridley, in the director’s chair and his father as executive producer, The Last Milestone is a stylish production.

Filmed in Kenya and Vienna, where Kipchoge was to attempt to break the two-hour barrier, the thoughts of this most humble of competitors are interspersed with those of the team assembled for the task, an impressive line-up led by Sir Dave Brailsford.

From laser-led pacemakers to meteorologists, the science behind such a challenge is formidable. But while Brailsford and his crew wrestled with numbers and formations, the man himself remained as though on an everyday jog back in his homeland before crossing the line 20 seconds inside the two-hour mark.

This sporting landmark is unlikely to be broken anytime soon, and certainly not on the steamy streets of Japan, but Kipchoge’s quest for another Olympic success is still in the running.