Historical Outlook Of The Sub-Two Hour Marathon Of Eliud Kipchoge

2019 has been a year of phenomenal year in the sporting world with a number of memorable performances from both teams and individuals. Athletics is no different and history was made as the so called final barrier has now been broken by Kenyan, Eliud Kipchoge. This saw him become the first person to run a marathon in under two hours, beating the previous mark set by 20 seconds. He was well supported to do so, with punters using the offers available at betting24, in which he was evens ahead of the event. This now joins previous feats such as Roger Bannister breaking the 4-minute mile in 1954 and Usain Bolt running a 9.58 100 metres in 2009.

The 34 year old Kenyan covered the 26.2 miles in one hour 29 minutes and 40 seconds in the INEOS 1:59 Challenge in Vienna, Austria. However, it will not stand as an official world record due to it not taking place in an open competition and due to the use of rotating pacemakers. The fact this has now been done, shows it is possible and this is likely to be surpassed by numerous runners in the future.

Kipchoge had previously attempted the record in 2017 at the Nike Breaking 2 Project when just missing out by 25 seconds on the Monza Grand Prix circuit in Italy. He is also the current Olympic champion and world record holder, having set the mark in 2018 at the Berlin marathon. This saw him run 2:01:39 as he remains the dominating force in marathon running at present.

The event was funded by Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s company INEOS, with the location selected due to its completely flat terrain and excellent air quality. There was also an incline of just 2.4 metres over the entire route, so it was perfect for a record breaking performance. 

A lead car was used throughout the event with green lasers indicating the speed he has to maintain. This being a pace of 2:50 per kilometre, in which he never went below 2:52 over the entire race. This meant he has to run 100 metres in 17:08, a remarkable 422 times in a row, at an average speed of 21.1kph. 

Kipchoge also had a team of 42 specially selected pacemakers that included the likes of 1500m Olympic champion Matthew Centrowitz and the Ingerbrigtsen brothers from Norway. This truly was an incredible achievement and will go down in history. What could now be next for Kipchoge? and can he officially break this record in the near future with Berlin the most likely venue.