“A world record was not on my mind today,” said Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum, after breaking the men’s marathon world record in Chicago, United States, this Sunday, October 8. He did it in extraordinary time: 42 kilometers in two hours and 35 seconds. Thus, Kiptum snatches the world record from his compatriot, Eliud Kipchoge, and now his goal is the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
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When he was at the starting line, Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum had no plans to break a world record in the Chicago race, one of the six major competitions over the 42-kilometer distance.
The 23-year-old athlete admitted that he was prepared to achieve a race record, but not break the world record, held by his Kenyan compatriot, Eliud Kipchoge, who had done two hours and one minute. Kiptum knew about that time and, in the final kilometers, he realized that he could improve it.
“I saw the time in front of me and said, let me try, maybe I can run under two hours… I knew that one day I would be a world record holder,” he added.
Kiptum finished the 42-kilometer race in a time of two hours and 35 seconds. He broke the finishing tape with three minutes and 27 seconds ahead of his compatriot Benson Kipruto. Belgian Bashir Abdi finished third with two hours and four minutes.
He raised his arms and glided to the finish line, apparently with energy to spare, as he hugged race director Carey Pinkowski amid applause from the crowd for his race.
In the women’s branch, the Dutch Sifan Hassan won the competition and thwarted Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich’s attempt to win a third consecutive title in Chicago, in 2:13:44, the second fastest time in history in a women’s marathon.
WORLD RECORD: We have a new man in town. Kelvin Kiptum just broke Eliud Kipchoge’s World Record with an unofficial time of 2:00:35! UNBELIEVABLE! pic.twitter.com/XfeMEzPveZ
— Chicago Marathon (@ChiMarathon) October 8, 2023
With our sights on the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
After the competition, Kiptum gave a press conference at the Hilton hotel in Chicago, in which he expressed his happiness for the achievement.
At 30 kilometers I saw that my body was responding and I could attack. And with five kilometers to go I saw that I could achieve the world record, said the Kenyan.
Kiptum achieved a time that brings him close to breaking the two-hour barrier at this distance, although he said he is not focusing on that at this time.
His goal, he said, will be the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. “Now the Olympic Games are on my mind. This puts me in a good position,” acknowledged the Kenyan athlete. In addition, he referred to Eliud Kipchoge, from whom he took the world record.
Kipchoge is the greatest ever, he has done a lot, we respect him and we have to follow what he has done, he stated.
Young athlete, long distance
It is the third marathon in which Kiptum participates and the first time he competes in the Chicago race, one of the competitions with more than 45,000 athletes, which this Sunday celebrated its 45th edition.
In April this year, he won the London Marathon with the second-fastest time in history over the distance. In that competition, she broke the mark with a time of two hours, one minute and 25 seconds, and was 16 seconds away from Eliud Kipchoge’s world record.
While the previous year, he won the champion medal in the Valencia race, with a time of two hours, one minute and 53 seconds.
With Reuters, EFE and local media.
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