Kelvin Kiptum sets marathon record: Born to exceed

New world record

Last Sunday (local time), a clear and sunny morning, with temperatures below 10 degrees Celsius on the large lakeside avenues and calm wind in Chicago (USA), the 23-year-old man ran 42,195 km in 2 hours and 35 seconds.

Before Kiptum completed his latest race, no time had been below 2 hours and 1 minute.

No one has come close to the two-hour mark in an official marathon, not even Eliud Kipchoge (38), the greatest marathoner in history, a two-time Olympic champion (2016 and 2021), who has also broken the world record twice: 2 hours 1 minute 39 seconds in 2018, and 2 hours 1 minute 9 seconds just 13 months ago. Both records were set in Berlin, Germany.

Only Kipchoge, with a professional team behind him and aerodynamic aids outside the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) approved category, has so far been able to run under two hours (1 hour 59 minutes 40 seconds; 2019 in Austria, with a pacemaker, water supply by bicycle), but has not been recognized as a record.

"Marathon culture and other sports"sport"Endurance has changed", marathon coach Juan del Campo (Spain), explained a few months ago.

Del Campo elaborates:"It used to be thought that only veteran athletes, like Kipchoge, who had grown up on the track and had a lot of experience, could succeed at the marathon distance, that such a distance was too much for young people.

And only people who lose the necessary speed on the short course should be allowed to compete in the marathon. But physiologically, there is nothing to stop 19- or 20-year-olds from running a marathon at a pace of under 3 minutes per kilometer. They are very fast."

Challenging human limits

It was all a surprise. Yet in Kiptum, a Kenyan—from Chepkorio, not far from Kipchoge’s Kaptagat—he had only run three marathons in his life. He won them all.

In all three times, he left fans gaping in amazement and disbelief.

The first, in December in Valencia, Spain, was completed in 2 hours 1 minute 53 seconds, the third best time in history at the time. The second, in London, in April, in 2 hours 1 minute 25 seconds, was just 16 seconds off Kipchoge's record.

Now, in Chicago, another major tournament in the world athletics system, he broke the record.

The question is no longer if someone can run a marathon in under two hours, but when. It's not too late!

Kiptum confided:“I had the stopwatch in front of me and I said to myself, ‘Come on, let's try it, maybe I can even run under two hours,’ but unfortunately I couldn't do it.”.

A day before the competition, in a press conference, Kiptum said he could not train well due to a groin injury, as the rainy season in Kenya was very fierce and his training route was very muddy.

"But I'm very happy. I didn't intend to break the record in Chicago, but I knew that one day I would.", he emphasized. And he succeeded spectacularly.

From Valencia to London, Kiptum brought his signature negative split (running the second half of the marathon faster than the first half) and a great acceleration between km 30 and 40. In Chicago, he further refined this technique.

Kelvin completed the first half in 60 minutes 48 seconds (37 seconds faster than in London), and the second half in 59 minutes 47 seconds (just 2 seconds slower than in the British capital). No one, not even Kipchoge, could run the second half in under an hour).

He covered the 10,000m from km 30 to 40 in 27 minutes 52 seconds (13 minutes 49 seconds for the 5,000m from km 30 to 35, with his face not conveying any signs of tension, he accelerated towards the record).

Kiptum crossed the finish line almost like a bouncing child, clinging to the arms of race director Carey Pinkowski, who happily hugged him, turning around as if he had been jogging all morning, continuing to run around other competitors who had arrived exhausted. Benson Kipruto, who finished second, crossed the finish line nearly three and a half minutes later (2 hours 4 minutes 2 seconds).