Eliud Kipchoge smashes world marathon record by 78 seconds in Berlin

Source: The Guardian

At Eliud Kipchoge’s training camp in Kenya, where he never misses his turn to clean the toilets or draw water from the nearby well, his fellow athletes call him “the boss man”. And on a pleasant autumn day in Berlin the 33-year-old lived up to that reputation – as well as reinforcing his case to be considered the greatest distance runner of all time – by obliterating the marathon world record.

Kipchoge’s time of 2hr 01min 39sec was staggering enough, given it took 78sec off the previous best set by Dennis Kimetto in 2014. But the fact that he did it while going solo for the last 17 kilometres (10.5 miles) – embracing the loneliness of the long-distance runner – after his pacemakers dropped out much earlier than intended, was almost as breathtaking.

“I lack words to describe this day,” Kipchoge said. It did not matter. He had done his talking on the streets of the German capital. From the gun Kipchoge’s only opponent was the clock. No opponent dared to go with him, just the three pacemakers tasked with guiding him to around 20 miles in world-record pace.

Initially all went to plan as Kipchoge passed the 10km mark in 29:21 – 22sec inside world-record pace. But shortly after 15km two of the three pacemakers were suddenly unable to continue. The third, Josphat Boit, dropped out at 25km.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/sep/16/eliud-kipchoge-smashes-world-marathon-record-berlin