This archive report was first published on 12 October 2019.
Eliud Kipchoge, a 34-year-old Kenyan athlete, has made history by breaking the 2-hour marathon barrier, completing the distance in 1:59:40.
On October 12, 2019, Kipchoge started running in Vienna, Austria, accompanied by seven pacemakers, in his quest to achieve the mythical two-hour barrier for the marathon. The specially prepared course in the Prater park was designed to make it as even as possible, with a 4.3-kilometre-long straight alley that he ran up and down several times.
Throngs of fans lined up around the finish line, eager to see if Kipchoge could cross it at 1hr 59min, for a historical first. The crowd included Nicole Pahl, a 48-year-old marathon runner from Germany, who said, "We want to see if he will make it. I would say it is totally crazy, terrific if he can make it."
Kipchoge holds the men's world record for the distance with a time of 2hr 01min 39sec, which he set in the flat Berlin marathon on September 16, 2018. He tried in May 2017 to break the two-hour barrier, running on the Monza National Autodrome racing circuit in Italy, but failed narrowly in 2hr 00min 25sec.
However, this time, Kipchoge says he is mentally stronger and more confident. "I just have to make that click in people's minds that no human is limited," he told a press conference this week. He added that his attempt in the Austrian capital is about "making history in this world, like the first man to go to the moon".
Despite the specially prepared course, the International Association of Athletics Federations will not validate the time as a world record due to the way the run is being set up and paced. The running surface has been partly retarred and readied with other features such as a banked corner that can save time and avoid injury.
Weather conditions were favourable, with very low wind speed and no rain. Fan zones had also been set up along the course, and organisers were only allowing their own cameras to film the run itself.
"It's history in the making. I'm very proud... It will be a motivation to a lot of young people. People are looking up to him," said Nichasius Koech, a 37-year-old software engineer from Kenya who works in Germany.
