In the human being's struggle against the limits of the impossible, Eliud Kipchoge has taken a new step. What has been experienced in Berlin is already sports history. The Kenyan from Kapsisiywa, favorite son of the Rift Valley, achieved the feat of lowering his own world record by 30 seconds in the Berlin Marathon and setting the new mark in 2h01m09s. On the verge of turning 38, he did not go below 2 hours as surely was among his goals, but the Kenyan surpassed himself in a formidable way to establish another milestone for the history of athletics and sport.
Half a minute. That is what has won history on this occasion an athlete who has dominated the distance star of the distance for almost a decade. Methodical, humble, simple and father of three children. Compact footprint, consistent stroke. His physiology is prodigious, his movements hypnotic. 1.67m and 52 kilos of strength, mind control. Like a moving work of art. Double Olympic champion, 4 of the 5 best marks in history belong to him. A man who has won 15 of the 17 marathons he has run. He now adds his fourth Berlin Marathon to his countless triumphs. This new milestone raises him a little more among the best athletes of all time, where Kipchoge already had a preferential place.
From the first meter he went full out, to the limit. Much faster than in 2018, when the stopwatch stopped in 2h01m39s. 85% humidity was not a good omen, but his times very soon began to give reason for hope. 59m50s in the half marathon made me dream of a miracle. The three hares would endure 25 kilometers, a little less than an unexpected guest, the Ethiopian Belihu. From there, 15 kilometers of solo battle against his body, against his mind, against the limits of his physiology.
His sober and compact running would be maintained until the end. His splits every five kilometers only oscillated 34 seconds between the slowest (14m43s from 35 to 40) and the fastest (14m09s from 5 to 10). In the following sections he fed hope, in 33 he improved the world record by 45s. By then, losing 2 hours was already a pipe dream, but the world record seemed attainable if there was no fainting. He finished with an average of 2m52s per kilometer, a wild one for a distance of 42.195 kilometers
He had no Kipchoge wall, unperturbed until with 5 kilometers to go he began to smile. And this despite the fact that at kilometer 40 he went back down to 3m11s. It did not matter. The work was done and in the last kilometer he would not give up. He had challenged his body, the history of this sport. And once again he had triumphed. About to turn 38, this running philosopher only has to try to attack the impossible that he has already achieved in non-homologated races of going below 2 hours. And of course Paris 2024, where he could be proclaimed Olympic champion for the third time.
In the women's category, the Ethiopian Tigis Assefa won with a time of 2:15:37. Assefa was followed by Kenyan Rosemary Wanjiru with 2:18:00 and Ethiopian Tigist Abayechev with 2:18:03. The first non-African athlete was the American Keira D'Amato who came sixth with a time of 2:21:48.
