Even Eliud Kipchoge looked amazed as crossed the finish line Sunday, smashing his world record while winning the Berlin Marathon for the fourth time.
Kipchoge, a 37-year-old from Kenya, captured the 15th of 17 official marathons he has entered by finishing the race in 2 hours 1 minute 9 seconds. He lowered his world best time of 2:01:39, set four years ago in Berlin, and led from start to finish. Mark Korir of Kenya was second in 2:05:58, and Ethiopia’s Tadu Abate was third in 2:06:28.
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Tigist Assefa of Ethiopia was the women’s winner in 2:15:37, the third-fastest time in history for somebody who had run one prior marathon; only Brigid Kosgei and Paula Radcliffe have gone faster. Kenya’s Rosemary Wanjiru was second in 2:18:00, and Ethiopia’s Tigist Abayechew took third in 2:18:03.
Ethiopia's Tigist Assefa celebrates winning the Berlin Marathon. (Filip Singer/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
Keira D’Amato, the American record holder (2:19:12), finished sixth in 2:21:48, pausing to walk late in the race and briefly stopping. “Today wasn’t my best day ever, but it was the best I could do,” she said in a text message, according to Race Results Weekly.
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The day belonged to Kipchoge, the two-time Olympic gold medalist who set a 4:37-per-mile pace in Berlin. His performance again raises the question of whether he can run a sub-two-hour marathon. He did so in 2019 in Vienna, becoming the first to accomplish the team, but the 1:59:40 time was not recognized as a record because he ran on a controlled course with professional pacesetters.
Kipchoge, who led from start to finish, found the pacing far from perfect, allowing him to run the second half in 61:18 after a blistering 59:51 over the first 13.1 miles.
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“I was planning to go through it [the halfway mark] 60:50, 60:40,” Kipchoge said on the race broadcast. “My legs were running actually very fast. I thought, ‘Let me just try to run two hours flat.’ But all in all, I am happy with the performance. We went too fast [in the first half]. It takes energy from the muscles.”
Asked whether he might lower his record again, Kipchoge said he has “still more” in his legs, adding, “I hope the future is still great.”
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