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.
The Kenyan had gone through halfway in 1hr 01 min 06sec. But now he was alone and his hopes of shattering the record appeared to be in the balance. Yet it transpired that hispacemakers had been holding him back: Kipchoge ran the second half in 60min 34sec – or 4min 37sec per mile.
After that most mortals would have slumped over the line. However, Kipchoge still had enough energy to leap into the arms of his coach and mentor, Patrick Sang, a former steeplechaser who provided him with his first training plan as a teenager. It has been some journey for both of them since.
A few minutes later Gladys Cherono won the women’s race in 2:18:11, making her the fourth-fastest woman in history behind Paula Radcliffe, Mary Keitany and Tirunesh Dibaba. Yet on this day that was a footnote, given that Kipchoge had just made the single largest jump on the marathon world record since Derek Clayton beat the mark by 2min 23sec in 1967.
“It was hard,” Kipchoge said. “I am just so incredibly happy to have finally run the world record as I never stopped having belief in myself.”
There are some who will be sceptical of such an extraordinary performance – understandably so, given the problems with doping in Kenya. However suspicion has never been directed at Kipchoge, or his coach, who are regarded as open and honest on the circuit.
What can be said with certainty is that this was a triumph 15 years in the making. The Kenyan first advertised his talents by claiming gold at the 2003 world championships over 5,000m at 18, before claiming silver and bronze medals at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. But since moving to the marathon in 2012 Kipchoge has found his true niche, winning 10 of 11 races over 26.2 miles, including his Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro and three victories in the London marathon.
Last year he also made an audacious yet controversial attempt to shatter the two-hour barrier for the marathon as part of Nike’s Breaking2 project. While his time of 2:00:25 was not considered an official mark because he was helped by a phalanx of 30 elite pacers that subbed in and out of the race, it gave him the psychological bedrock to understand that Kimetto’s record was there for the taking.
And how – although afterwards Kipchoge joked that his next ambition was to run slower to complete an extraordinary set: “I have run 2.00, 2.01, 2.03, 2.04 and 2.05,” he said, smiling. “Next season I want to run 2.02.”
Whatever happens, this will surely go down as Kipchoge’s crowning glory, his marathon opus. It would be no surprise if his record stood for a generation, unless, of course, he himself has other ideas.
An extraordinary day in athletics continued on Sunday evening as the Frenchman Kevin Mayer smashed the decathlon world record. His score of 9,126 beat Ashton Eaton’s record, set in 2015, by 81 points. Mayer also became only the third man in history over 9,000 points, joining Eaton and Roman Sebrle.