Take the list of achievements from any end, look at the numbers from any angle, there is no other possible conclusion: Eliud Kipchoge is the greatest marathon runner of all time.
Posted at 7:45 a.m.
Sunday in Berlin, his race was far from perfect. “I was aiming for 60 min 50 s at the half, but my legs went too fast,” the two-time champion told reporters. The pacers kicked things off at a speed never before seen in a marathon, but I doubt that was by accident. When I opened my eyes in the middle of the night to see what was happening, it was halfway through in that crazy time of 59:51. He wouldn’t be content with beating his 2018 record (2:01:39). He looked like he wanted to be the first man to run under two hours in an “official” marathon, a goal he didn’t declare, except through that “impossible is nothing” written on his bib.
He had run the distance of 42.195 km in 1 h 59 min 40 s, in Vienna in 2019, but on a marked circuit with hares who took turns until the end, in short, it could not be an approved marathon record . But we know he is physically capable of doing it ever since. But that was three years ago…
Sunday, in the second half, he began to lose a few seconds per kilometer. After having rolled at 2 min 50 s on average (with a few kilometers at 2 min 48 s and even 2 min 45 s!), he was approaching three minutes per kilometer, and even dropped a 3 min 08 s… he break?
But no. Not him.
Result: a huge record (2 h 01 min 09 s), at almost 38 years old. And five minutes ahead of the nearest pursuer.
Since leaving track competition in 2013 (after a world title at 19, silver in Beijing, bronze in Athens in the 5000m), he has completed 17 marathons. In this discipline where there are many unforeseen events and few appointments, he nevertheless won 15 of them. He finished second once, on his second attempt; the first had broken the world record. His other non-win was in London, in 2020, where he finished 8erare disappointment.
Was this the beginning of the end? At all. At the Tokyo Games, he outclassed everyone to become the only one with Abebe Bikila (Rome and Tokyo) and the enigmatic East German Waldemar Cierpinski (Montreal and Moscow) to win two Olympic titles in the marathon.
“I spoke with Charles Philibert-Thiboutot on Saturday and both of us said to each other that he could no longer beat his record, that the best was over… It proves that the experts were wrong! says Laurent Godbout, athletics analyst and organizer of the Montreal Classic.
The good news is that he is at his best at almost 38 years old.
Laurent Godbout
Dorys Langlois, a former elite marathon runner and trainer, believes that “all things considered, this is her best performance ever”.
All things considered, that is, that recklessly fast first half. It doesn’t seem like much, but three seconds per kilometer too much in the first half can send the runner upside down, especially when he’s racing to the limit, for a record. For his last record, in 2018, Kipchoge had clocked 61 min 6 s in the first half, and 60 min 33 s in the second. It therefore accelerated, a sign of perfect management.
On Sunday, he clocked 59:51 followed by 61:19. To manage to hold on and break the record anyway after burning too many cartridges is particularly impressive.
“I didn’t think he would make it,” said the coach, who said Kipchoge was “worth” 20 to 40 seconds better if he had started slower.
The biggest, then? Without a doubt.
Ethiopians Kenenisa Bekele and Haile Gebrselassie have more glorious careers on the track, but in the marathon they are behind the Kenyan. Bekele, who had the second all-time marathon time through Sunday (2:01:41 a.m.), took part in 13 marathons, won three, made three more podiums, and gave up four, not nothing disgraceful. Haile Gebrselassie, the first man to run under 2 h 04 min, was certainly deemed untouchable. Twice world record holder, he won “only” 9 of the 16 marathons in which he took part, between 2002 and 2012.
It is difficult to compare runners in absolute terms, not least because shoe technology experienced a revolution in the late 2010s. But even in relative terms, comparing the dominance of these athletes over their contemporaries, Kipchoge is a marathon runner at go. (No, never suspected of doping.)
The best thing about it is that he did not record his last lap. We can still admire his fluid and flying stride, maybe even under two hours, who knows.