Fastest of all time but still 25 seconds short of his target.
Eliud Kipchoge, the Olympic champion from Kenya, ran the world’s fastest marathon in a behind closed doors race in Italy on Saturday morning.
The event was part of Nike’s efforts to break the two-hour mark for the marathon – a goal Kipchoge fell just short of with a time of 2:00.24.
Despite running a faster time than Dennis Kimetto’s world record mark of 2:02.57, Kipchoge’s time will not count as a world record due to the use of pacemakers, who joined the race and dropped out to suit the participants.
Thanks to these “in-out”pacemakers, the gentle bends of the Monza racetrack and the delivery of water on scooters to avoid having to slow down, Kipchege was able to run each mile at an average of 4’46”.
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The BBC report that the sub-two hour marathon would require Kipchege to run 17 seconds for 100 metres 422 times consecutively.
Fellow Nike athletes, Eritrea’s Zersenay Tadese and Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia, also attempted to break the barrier at the event organised by the sportswear giant, but they finished in times of 2:06.51 and 2:14.10 respectively.
“I’m happy to have run two hours for the marathon,” said Kipchoge, who was paid by Nike to skip the London and Berlin marathons in preparation for this event.
“My mind was fully on the two hours but the last kilometre was behind the schedule. This journey has been good – it has been seven months of dedication.”
