The legendary two-hour mark has never been so close. On Sunday October 8, Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum broke the marathon world record in Chicago. His mark, 2:00:35, beats by almost a minute the record held by his compatriot, the legend Eliud Kipchoge (2:01:09, in Berlin in 2022). The latter was not present in the United States for this race.
“He is going to challenge the record, he trained for the world record, but he prefers not to announce things”Rwandan Gervais Hakizimana, Kiptum’s coach since 2016, had warned on Saturday. The words of the coach, himself a former good athlete, further increased the expectations arising from Kiptum’s performances.
The Kenyan had indeed made a sensational entry into the world of marathons in less than a year with two exceptional performances. First in Valencia in December 2022 (2:01:53) then in London in April (2:01:25), where he ran the second fastest marathon in history. Less than a year after his competitive debut over the distance, Kiptum has already ascended to the marathon throne.
“I wasn’t necessarily ready for that”
“I wasn’t necessarily ready for that, but a world record, I’m so happy! I knew I would break this record one day”, declared the winner of the day into the organizer’s microphone. Passed in 1 hour and 48 seconds at the halfway point, Kiptum added the way to his record. Because as usual, the Kenyan managed to accelerate further in the second half of the race. As a result, he dropped his compatriot Daniel Mateiko to 33e kilometer, then flew alone towards the finish line, helped by ideal weather conditions: a temperature between 7 and 10 degrees, overcast weather and almost no wind.
After dispossessing Kipchoge of his record, Kiptum will probably want to beat him head-to-head. For the moment, he has never directly faced his illustrious 38-year-old elder, and this opposition could take place during the marathon of the Paris Olympic Games, in less than ten months. Even without his world record, Kipchoge will advance to a race in which he has won the last two editions.