Kelvin Kipchoge (23-KENYA) has become the first human to run a full marathon (42.195 kilometers) in under two hours and one minute.
Kipchoge finished the 2023 Chicago Marathon in 2:00:35 on Sunday (Aug. 8) in Chicago, Illinois, USA. His time of 2:00:35 is a world record, 34 seconds better than the previous mark of 2:01:09 set by Eliud Kipchoge (38-KEN) at the Berlin Marathon last September. He is 36 seconds away from breaking the two-hour barrier. Benson Kipruto (32-KEN), who won the Chicago Marathon last year, was second in 2:04:02.
Kipruto broke away from the pack at the 30km mark, removing the hat he wore at the start, and passed 40km in 1:54:23. He then increased his pace and finished the race in an impressive 2:00:35.
Kipchut emerged as a world-class marathoner in December 2022 with a time of 2:01:53 at the Valencia Marathon, followed by a “second-best time ever” of 2:01:25 at the London Marathon in April this year. Kipchoge stunned everyone once again with his performance, becoming the “first human to run 42.195 kilometers in under 2 hours and 1 minute” after completing the full marathon course only three times.
The world of athletics, which once considered Kipchoge the favorite to achieve the world marathon’s elusive “sub-2” (running a full course in less than two hours), is slowly shifting its attention to the 1999-born Kipchoge.
“I thought I was capable of breaking the course record (2:03:45), but I’m really happy to get a world record that I didn’t expect,” Kipchoge told the Associated Press after the race, “I always believed that one day I would be a world record holder. But I didn’t expect that day to come so soon.”
“I looked at my watch at the end of the race and said to myself, ‘Let’s give it a go’. “I probably could have run under two hours, but that’s it for today,” he added.
Meanwhile, “newcomer” Sifan Hassan (30-Netherlands) won the women’s race in 2:13:44, a new meet record (previously 2:14:04) and the second-best time in women’s marathon history. Ruth Chepngeti (29-KEN), who won the Chicago Marathon in 2021 and last year, finished second behind Hassan in 2:15:37.
Already a multiple Olympic and world champion over the middle and longer distances of the track, Hassan won the London Marathon on April 23 this year in 2:18:33 in her first attempt at the full course, then shaved 4:49 off her personal best in her second attempt at the full course. Only one other female marathoner has a better record than Hassan, Tigist Assefa (26-Ethiopia), who set a world record of 2:11:53 at the 2023 Berlin Marathon on September 24.
Hassan won the women’s 1500 meters and 10000 meters at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, winning a double at the event. It was the first time in history that the same athlete had won the 1500 and 10000 meters at the World Championships.
At Tokyo 2020, Hassan surprised everyone by winning gold in the women’s 5000 meters and 10000 meters and bronze in the 1500 meters. It was the first time in Olympic history that an athlete had won medals in both the middle and long distances of a single Olympic track and field event.
Hassan also won the women’s race at the 2023 London Marathon in April this year with a time of 2:18:33. For her first marathon, she exceeded expectations. “I wasn’t sure if I 토토사이트 would even finish a marathon,” she said at the time, “but I won my first full marathon. I felt pain in my hip during the race, but it got better and better.”
Hassan also returned to the track in August this year at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, where he finished second in the 5000 meters and third in the 1500 meters.
Born in Adama, Ethiopia, Hassan fled his home in 2008 to survive and settled as a refugee in Eindhoven, Netherlands. He took up athletics because it was the only sport that didn’t cost money, and has since blazed a trail where few have gone before, showing off his immense talent on the track and on the road.
“I won my second full-course challenge in a fantastic time,” Hassan said after the race, “and I couldn’t be happier.”
