Belihu, who has a half-marathon career best of 58:54 but a marathon best of only 2:09:43, looked fairly comfortable at the half.īut an upset wasn’t in the making. (Photo: Tobias Schwarz/Getty)Īlong with three Kenyan pacemakers-Moses Koech, Noah Kipkemboi and Philemon Kiplimo-Kipchoge still had Andamlak Belihu, an Ethiopian half-marathon specialist, on his heels. RELATED: Why We Have No Choice But To Root for Eliud Kiphchoge, Marathon King Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge celebrates after winning the Berlin Marathon race on Septemin Berlin. It was clear that Kipchoge was trying for the 2-hour barrier which has never been broken in a World Athletics-compliant competition. They blasted through the halfway mark in an unprecedented 59:51, a red-hot 4:34 per-mile pace. Instead of sticking with the planned schedule of running 60:50 through the first half (4:39 per mile), the lead group ran 14:14 for the first 5km (4:35 per mile) and sped up to hit 10km in 28:23. Some 45,527 runners from 157 countries were registered to take part in the first Berlin Marathon without restrictions since the coronavirus pandemic began.

Averaging 4:37 per mile, the 37-year-old runner sliced exactly half a minute off of his previous mark of 2:01:39 set at the same race in 2018.Ĭonditions in the German capital were ideal for fast racing-a cool 52 degrees with no precipitation after a night of showers, and no wind. The seemingly infallible Kenyan runner broke his own world record in the marathon on Sunday morning at the Berlin Marathon, clocking 2:01:09 to win the race for the fourth time since 2015 and garner his 11th World Marathon Majors race in 13 attempts. of marathon running?Įvery time he laces up his Nike shoes and runs a race, it seems he adds to his legacy of being the greatest of all time. How many more times will Eliud Kipchoge remind the world that he is the G.O.A.T.

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