Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge Sets New Marathon World Record
Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya has made a new marathon world record in Berlin with time of two hours, one minute 39 seconds in the race over the distance.
Eliud, 33, beat the previous record set by compatroit Dennis Kimetto in Berlin in 2014 with time of two hours, two minutes 57 seconds.
It was the largest single improvement on the marathon world record since Derek Clayton improved the mark by 2:23 in 1967.
The excited Eliud Kipchoge said; “My only words are ‘Thank you!’,”.
"I lack words to describe this day, I am really grateful, happy to smash the world record."
As it stands now, Kipchoge is regarded as one of the greatest marathon runners of all time.
He for a third time won the London Marathon earlier this year and has now become the Olympic champion over the distance.
"It was hard," Kipchoge added. "I ran my own race, I trusted my trainers, my programme and my coach. That's what pushed me in the last kilometres."
In 2017, Kipchoge missed out on becoming the first athlete to run under two hours for the marathon by 26 seconds.
The Kenyan clocked 2:00.25 but because in-out pacemakers were used, the time was not be recognised as a world record