Sub two-hour marathon: Eliud Kipchoge’s monument in athletic history

We can add another plinth in the pantheon of the sport, the first sub-two-hour marathon, achieved in Vienna by Eliud Kipchoge.

Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge celebrates after busting the two-hour marathon barrier. Picture: AFP

The monuments in athletics history are indelibly etched in the memory. There was Roger Bannister’s first sub-four-minute mile in 1954, the world record long jump of Bob Beamon at the Mexico Olympics in 1968 and Usain Bolt’s time of 9.58sec for the 100m at the 2009 world championships.

Now can be added another plinth in the pantheon of the sport, the first sub-two-hour marathon, achieved on Saturday in Vienna by Eliud Kipchoge, the Olympic champion and four times winner of the London Marathon.

As he accelerated down the Prater Hauptallee, beneath the spreading chestnut trees lining the road, the packed banks of spectators began banging on the advertising boards. The pacemakers peeled away to the side, and Kipchoge, 34, gave a thumbs-up to the crowd as the Kenyan flags began to wave. Kipchoge crossed the line in 1hr 59min 40.2sec. Mission accomplished.

The time may not be an official world record because the International Association of Athletics Federations, the world governing body, does not recognise performances with such assistance from rotating pacemakers, as well as a car in front to ensure the speed is neither too fast nor too slow and drinks being handed over by his agent on a bicycle.

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However, this does not really detract from a physical feat that will be recalled forever by everyone who witnessed it and by those who watched on television. A total of 25 different companies screened the event, many of them distributing pictures to several countries.

And, after all, Kipchoge holds the official world record of 2hr 1min 39sec set in Berlin last year, a performance that the Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele only failed to beat by two seconds on the same course last month.

Saturday was the climax to months of preparation by Kipchoge and his team on the Ineos 1:59 challenge to take the traditional event, originally made famous in ancient Greece, to a level that even such renowned athletes as Emil Zatopek, Abebe Bikila and Haile Gebrselassie did not approach.

Kipchoge himself had wanted to compare the attempt not in athletics terms but in a wider context, saying beforehand: “It’s like the first man to go to the moon. It’s about telling people that the only limit is in their minds.”

Afterwards, he did not indulge himself in the euphoria surrounding him, the hordes of people wanting selfies and the demand for autographs. Instead, he went straight to his wife Grace and his three children to embrace them.

Then he turned to thank his squads of pacemakers, who had escorted him along the 42km, to pay tribute to them and to emphasise the camaraderie of the event. Kipchoge has felt that the attempt was one of humanity’s desire for improvement. “We can make this world a beautiful world and a peaceful world.”

He had felt under pressure ever since he first attempted to break two hours when he did 2hr 0min 25sec at the Monza racetrack in Italy. He had admitted before Saturday: “In 2017, I was like a boxer who is going in the ring and does not know what will happen. But this time I am prepared. I know what will happen.”

The search was on for the most suitable venue. Vienna was chosen because when an athlete is running at 21km/h, the body’s temperature goes up, so it was necessary to have a place where the air temperature was 10°C. The weather in Vienna, with less chance in October of rain and winds, was important. A city was important because Kipchoge wanted the encouragement of a crowd, which was not there when the attempt was made at the Monza racetrack. Vienna was also only an hour’s time difference behind that of Kenya, which would mean little adjustment in his body clock, while the start time of 8.15am was fixed, partly because Kipchoge has his first training session of the day close to that time and also because of the weather conditions in Vienna.

There was no rain on Saturday and, equally significantly, no wind. The runners did multi-laps of a 9.6km straight course, with turns at either end, the lack of turns marginally aiding the runners, unlike in an ordinary big city marathon where competitors must adjust their body position each time.

The pacemakers were a group of 41 runners, including some of the world’s leading athletes, delighted to be able to play their part in making history. The runners included the veteran Bernard Lagat, twice world champion and a fellow Kenyan, as well as the Norwegian Ingebritsen brothers.

Also among the pacing team were Australian marathon runners Jack Rayner, Brett Robinson, Patrick Tiernan and Stewart McSweyn.

“It was an incredible honour to pace Eliud, the fastest marathon runner of all time,” said Rayner. “To go beyond what seemed possible is an experience I loved being part of and will never forget.”

The pacing team ran in a V formation, five in front and one behind, to reduce air resistance.

Kipchoge also ran in Nike shoes, called the ZoomX Vaporfly Next%, believed to provide a 4 per cent energy saving. Anyone thinking of buying a similar pair for their morning jog can expect to pay about $320 for the privilege.

The event began in a morning mist and the group settled into a metronomic pace of 2min 50sec for each kilometre, with a beam of light from the car focused on the road so that the runners knew that all they had to do was to keep level with it. They never looked like failing.

Afterwards, asked whether he had suffered a bad patch midway through the event, Kipchoge replied, to much laughter: “No. That is not true. I felt very comfortable.”

As he strode over the line, he looked as if he had just been out for a morning’s jog, not having completed one of the historic achievements in the whole panoply of physical endeavour.

The Sunday Times