Elation was plastered all over Kelvin Kiptum’s face as he flew towards the finish line of the Chicago
Marathon last Sunday. With a time of two hours and thirty-five seconds, the Kenyan won the race
and set a new men’s marathon world record time, breaking Eliud Kipchoge’s marathon world record
by a full thirty-four seconds.
Chicago’s course is not notably hilly, with an elevation of just 74 metres, making it relatively ideal for
setting fast times. Kipchoge set his 2:01:09 in Berlin with its even flatter course, which is far more
suited to speed and therefore a more logical location for records. Consequently, Kiptum’s record is
even more impressive considering the topographical challenges.
Excitingly, Kiptum’s achievement puts a sub-two hour marathon in legal conditions in the realm of
possibility. Aided by super shoe technology and an insane ability to negative split the latter half of a
marathon, the 23 year old has enormous potential – arguably more than the marathon GOAT
Kipchoge. Although Kiptum has only run three marathons ever, he ran the fastest debut marathon of
2:01:53 at the 2022 Valencia Marathon, indicating the unprecedented trajectory he is on.
Showing unshakeable self-confidence, he told Olympics.com that “in the future I know I can run two
hours,” prior to running the world record. His joy in a post-race interview was wonderful to see,
bringing genuine positivity to a sometimes fraught male running scene.
Sifan Hassan, the Dutch 1500m, 5000m, and 10,000m track star, won the women’s marathon with a
scorching two hours, thirteen minutes, and forty-four seconds, the second fastest time in history.
Despite reporting severe hip pain in the last seven kilometres, Hassan powered on to a thoroughly
deserved second marathon victory in as many marathon attempts.
Although it wasn’t better than Tigst Assefa’s world record time at the Berlin Marathon, Hassan ran a
course record for Chicago and demonstrated the remarkable success that female middle distance
runners have had when moving up to marathon distance. Whilst it is unclear why this transition has
been so successful, the intensity of 1500m running may complement the speed endurance of 10k
races in an unconventional combination.
Kiptum has pushed the boundaries of unaided marathon running and Hassan has proven how
transferable middle distance strength is. The marathon running scene keeps getting better and
better, and the season has only just begun. There may be some epic battles in future between
Kipchoge and Kiptum, and Hassan and Assefa, all of which will undoubtedly have us on the edge of
our seats. Furthermore, it will be fascinating to observe the impact of super shoe technology on elite
and amateur running times across all levels of the sport.
“Medaillen der Major Marathons Berlin, Chicago, Boston, New York und London” by wuestenigel is licensed under CC BY 2.0.