By the time he passed through 40km in 1:54:53, his lead had grown to move than four minutes with Mark Korir having moved into second place. He passed through 30km in 1:25:40, then reached 35km in 1:40:10. His pace started to drop slightly from then on, and by 25km (1:11:08) his projected finish had slipped to just outside two hours, but he was still more than a minute inside world record pace.Įthiopia’s Andamlak Belihu was just about staying level with Kipchoge up until this point, but the Kenyan superstar then gradually pulled clear and was out on his own.
Kipchoge maintained that pace through half way, which was reached in 59:50 – identical to his half-way split when he produced a sub-two-hour run in an unofficial orchestrated race in Vienna three years ago. Unlike his last world record run, the double Olympic champion went out hard on this occasion, passing through 5km in 14:14 and 10km in 28:22 – not just comfortably inside world record pace, but also well inside a projected two-hour finish. Just when it seemed Kipchoge had achieved everything he possibly could over the classic distance, the legendary pushed the world record further out of reach for the rest of the distance-running world. There was also a stunning breakthrough for Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa in the women’s race as she smashed the course record by more than two minutes with 2:15:37, becoming the third-fastest woman in history. My mind is still moving, the body still absorbing the training.Eliud Kipchoge sliced half a minute from his own world record* to win the BMW Berlin Marathon, clocking a sensational 2:01:09 at the World Athletics Elite Platinum Label road race on Sunday (25). I need to celebrate this record and have to realise what happens.
Kipchoge is the only man to run a sub-two hour marathon when he clocked 1:59.40 on a specially designed track in Vienna in 2019 but the time is not officially recognised as it was not set in competition.Īsked whether he would attempt a sub-two hour run in Berlin next year, Kipchoge said: "Let us plan for another day. With a final 500-metre sprint passing through the city's iconic Brandenburg Gate just as the sun started to emerge, a beaming Kipchoge crossed the finish line to cement his status as one of the greatest runners of all time.įellow Kenyan Mark Korir completed a one-two finish for the African nation, four minutes and 49 seconds behind, with Ethiopian Tadu Abate third. The Kenyan, who retained his Olympic at the Tokyo Games last year, had fallen short of his world mark by just over a minute at the Tokyo Marathon in March, but he was not to be denied in Berlin. Belihu finally dropped back around the 27 kilometre-mark as Kipchoge pushed on for the record.
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