Kenyan Olympic gold medalist Eliud Kipchoge felt pretty good knowing he made history by becoming the first person in history to run a marathon in under two hours. He’s officially joined the ranks of great runners like Usain Bolt, who holds the world record in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 4 × 100 meters relay, and Roger Bannister, who broke the 4-minute mile.
To be exact, Kipchoge ran 26.2 miles in 1 hour, 59 min and 40.2 seconds in the INEOS 1:59 Challenge in Vienna, Austria on Saturday. This was part of his attempt to inspire others to believe #nohumanislimited. He expects others after him to follow in his footsteps and run under two hours.
“This shows the positivity of sport. I want to make it clean and interesting sport,” he told BBC. “Together when we run, we can make it a beautiful world.”
The 34-year-old runner trained for over four months for this event, shaving seconds off each time, and it showed. When he reached the halfway mark, he was already 10 seconds ahead of schedule.
This was his second attempt at breaking the two-hour record, after missing it by 26 seconds in 2017 at Nike’s event at the Monza Grand Prix circuit in Italy. He was supported by his enthusiastic team of pacemakers and a pace car that beamed green lasers onto the road indicating pace speed.
The team ran in a “V’ shape formation to increase speed. Even his coaches took care of him, delivering water and energy gels on bikes every few miles, compared to picking up a cup at a table at regular competitions.
Unfortunately, these circumstances, along with the fact that the racecourse was essentially flat, does not meet IAAF rules, so his official record will not be counted. However, his previous time of 2 hours, 1 minute and 39 seconds from the 2018 Berlin Marathon still stands.