By Scott Olberding
May 6, 2017
Eliud Kipchoge just did that.
Kipchoge reaffirmed that he is the greatest marathoner in history by running 2:00:25 in Nike’s Breaking2 attempt in Monza, Italy on Saturday morning.
Using pace cars with lights, rotating rabbits, advanced footwear and a specialized course, the sportswear giant staged one of the most fascinating runs in history.
The lead pack went out in 14:14 for the first 5K before dropping another 14:07 and 14:13 before Lelisa Desisa was the first casualty from the hot pace. Desisa had the roughest day of all the runners as he would remain in the race and hobble to the finish line in 2:14.
Zersenay Tadese, the half marathon world record holder, stayed with the Kipchoge and the pacers through the 20K split of 56:49. Kipchoge and the pacers pulled away to cross the half marathon mark in 59:57.
Kipchoge remained impressive through the first 35K. It was only after about that point when he started to crack just slightly and grimace at points. Yet, he still clicked off 14:17’s before his final 5K was a 14:27.
In those last two kilometers, the pacer formation broke and it was just cheers and good vibes that were being sent to the three-time Olympic medalist. He powered through and crossed the finish line in 2:00:25.
In what could easily be one of his amazing tweets, after the race, he told Paula Radcliffe, “The world is now just 25 seconds away.”
It was one of the best marketing initiatives and people found a way to tune in and watch the end of the race. People were interested in running. While the true fans of the sport will continue to say that Kipchoge should have run the time in a race and on a standard marathon course, it was still remarkable to see the many variables that effect a marathon.
We’ll have more on Kipchoge’s epic run and what it means for the future in the coming days so stay tuned on CitiusMag.com. Sign up for our newsletter for all our best content.
You can re-watch the entire race above.
Below is a graph and a look at the pacing that compares Kipchoge’s marathon to other fast marks including Dennis Kimetto’s world record:
Official Results
Eliud Kipchoge 2:00:25
Zersenay Tadese 2:06:51
Lelisa Desisa 2:14:10
Scott Olberding
Full-time accountant, amateur marathoner and statistics editor for Citius Mag. Focused on creating arithmetic visualization and writing narrative for data-centric athletic ideas. Founding member of the JBAC and University of Portland Alumnus. Hosted Paul Snyder on his recruiting trip to UP, taking him to an Astronomy class. Although Paul did not commit, they have since become great friends.