This archive report was first published on 12 October 2019.
On October 12, 2019, Eliud Kipchoge made history by becoming the first person to run a 42km marathon in under two hours. He achieved this feat at the INEOS 159 challenge in Vienna, Austria, finishing in 1:59:40.
The race started at 9:15am Kenyan time on Saturday morning. Kipchoge had skipped the 2019 World Athletics Championships and the Berlin Marathon, where he set the world record, to train for this event.
With this achievement, Kipchoge solidified his position as the most successful long-distance athlete of all time. He has won numerous accolades throughout his career, including the Olympic marathon in 2016 and the current marathon world record with a time of 2:01:39 hours.
As the current marathon world record holder, Kipchoge's world record run at the 2018 Berlin Marathon broke the previous world record by 1 minute and 18 seconds.
Throughout his illustrious career, Kipchoge has achieved numerous milestones. He won his first individual world championship title in 2003 by winning the junior race at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships and setting a world junior record over 5000 m on the track.
At the age of eighteen, he became the senior 5000 m world champion at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics with a championships record. He has also won numerous other titles, including Olympic bronze for Kenya in 2004 and a bronze at the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships.
As a five-time World Championship 5000m finalist, Kipchoge has taken silver medals at the 2007 World Championships, 2008 Summer Olympics, and 2010 Commonwealth Games.
He switched to road running in 2012 and made the second-fastest ever half marathon debut with 59:25 minutes. On his marathon debut, he won the 2013 Hamburg Marathon in a course record time.
His first victory at a World Marathon Major came at the Chicago Marathon in 2014, and he went on to become series champion for 2016, 2017, and 2018. He has won the London Marathon a record 4 times.
Described as the greatest marathoner of the modern era, Kipchoge has won 12 of the 13 marathons he has entered, his only loss being a second place behind Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich at the 2013 Berlin Marathon, where Kipsang broke the world record.
