Kenyan double Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge has broken his own world-record Marathon time by 30 seconds with a stunning run in Berlin.
The 37-year-old legend took part in Sunday’s race in the German capital as he crossed the line in a time of 2:01:09. His previous record had been set in the same location four years previously.
As well as the stunning result at the Berlin Marathon today it also means he has now won 15 of his 17 career marathons. Among those successes includes two Olympic triumphs as well as 10 major titles.
In Vienna back in 2019 he also became the first athlete to run the 26.2-mile distance in under two hours. However, it wasn’t deemed as an official marathon world record since it wasn’t in open competition and he had a team of rotating pacemakers.
In Berlin today Kipchoge was in a class of his own as he set a blistering pace across the city. Just a handful of runners could keep up with him along with the group of pacemakers.
He managed to shake off last year's winner Guye Adola but fellow Ethiopian Andamlak Belihu refused to give in as the race went on despite the blistering pace. They both managed to race through the halfway stage in less than an hour but eventually Belihu dropped back at the 27 kilometre-mark.
Kipchoge then went on to push for the record and did so in some style. At the Tokyo Games, while he retained his Olympic title, he had fallen short of his previous record mark but he was not going to be denied in Berlin.
As he passed the city's iconic landmark - the Brandenburg Gate - he sprinted through the final 500-metres to crush his previous record and shave off a massive 30 seconds. The result cements his place as one of the greatest runners of all time as he added yet more accolades to his truly remarkable career.
Kipchoge's fellow Kenyan Mark Korir managed to take second place in the race, finishing four minutes and 49 seconds behind. Ethiopian Tadu Abate came in third.
Before the race Kipchoge had even played down his chances of setting a new world record. He told BBC Sport Africa: “I always say I don’t call a world record but I want to run a good race.”
In the women's race at the Berlin Marathon, Ethiopia's Tigist Assefa unexpectedly won with a course record of 2:15:37. It was 18 minutes faster than she had ever run before and the third-fastest time for a women's marathon ever.
