Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya broke his own world marathon record on Sunday in Berlin by 30 seconds, clocking 2 hours, 1 minute, and 10 seconds. At the midway point, the two-time Olympic winner in Rio and Tokyo appeared poised to break the coveted two-hour barrier. However, despite a minor slowdown, the 37-year-old managed to beat his previous best from Berlin in 2018.
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, hung on to finish fourth.
Kipchoge, who stated on Friday that his primary objective was “to run a nice race,” exploded out of the gates, aiming not only for a world record but to beat the two-hour mark.
For the first 10 kilometres, a group of about seven runners followed Kipchoge. After 15 kilometres, 2021 winner Guye Adola and Belihiu began to distance themselves.
After 18 kilometres, 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 kilometres, 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 while 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.
