Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge Major Changes Hit Northern Arizona Elite London Marathon today. The 33-year-old clocked 2:04:17 in balmy weather to finish 32 seconds clear of runner-up Tola Shura Kitata of Ehtiopia, with local hero Mo Farah battling to third in a British record of 2:06:21.
In a race touted as a world record attempt, the men’s field set off at a lightning pace; they ripped through the first mile in 4:22, reached 10K in 28:19, but by the time they reached halfway in 61:00 there were still seven athletes clustered together behind the pacers.
Kipchoge, the reigning Olympic champion who has not lost a marathon since 2013, put himself in pole position, but with temperatures in the low 70s and the sun beating down, it was always likely his contenders would fall to pieces from trying to go with him.
“It was ridiculous, do or die,” Farah said following the race. “But you go with it or you hang back. I just said: go with these guys, see what happens. If you’re gonna die, you’re gonna die.”
After the pacers stepped aside at 14 miles, it was left to Kipchoge to continue the chase of Dennis Kimetto’s world record of 2:02:57. One by one, his rivals fell away over the miles that followed, and at 20 miles just one remained—the unheralded Tola Shura Kitata.
Farah, competing in just his second marathon, was hanging on several seconds back. But the Briton showed his inexperience at the early drinks stations, missing his bottle at 10K and 20K, which cost him valuable seconds and saw him discuss the issue with a race official on a nearby motorbike.
“It was a bit annoying,” he said. “Me and the other athlete from Ethiopia had the exact same bottle, and they were on the same table. When I was trying to grab my drink I was grabbing his drink, and he was grabbing my drink.”
Approaching the 20th mile, it became clear the world record was slipping out of reach, with Kipchoge’s average mile pace slipping from 4:43 to outside 4:50 (Kimetto’s record pace is 4:41.4), Stravas 2024 Yearly Report Is Here.
Only in the 24th mile did Kipchoge finally make a break, opening an advantage as he reached London’s Embankment. Though he was slowing with every mile—his last three miles were run in 14:30, the opening three covered in 13:15—he looked serene as he turned for home, crossing the line near Buckingham Palace in 2:04:17 to win his eighth straight marathon.
“It was a beautiful race, winning for the third time,” said Kipchoge, who revealed he wasn’t affected by the conditions. “I can’t complain about the weather, it was the same for all 40,000 competitors.”
For his win, Kipchoge will take home $55,000, and a further $100,000 will be split between him and Kitata as they both finished under 2:05:00.
For any rivals who hoped the 33-year-old Kipchoge may now rest on his laurels, he said after the race that he won’t be getting carried away with his victory.
“When you perform well, you respect the win and you enjoy it with your family and colleagues,” he said. “I don’t think I’ll celebrate; I have celebrated here by inspiring many people.”
Kitata came in at 2:04:49, a PR by 61 seconds. He wins $30,000.
The biggest cheers of the day were reserved for Farah, who struggled home over the closing miles to clock 2:06:21, taking almost a minute off Steve Jones’s British record of 2:07:13.
It was a different kind of fatigue for the former track star, who has won four Olympic gold medals over 5,000 and 10,000 meters. “It was a lot more pain,” he said. “Health & Injuries. I can’t ask more than that.”
He conceded today that despite coming up short against Kipchoge, he had no regrets about going with him.
“Eliud is a great marathoner who has experience, and today was one of those things: You be a man, fight like a man, or start off in the back and regret later on. You’ve got to fight, and today I managed to fight,” he said.
Kipchoge, meanwhile, was hesitant to say what will come next, but given his PR of 2:03:05 is just eight seconds off the world record, it’s likely he will target that later this year.
“Where I come from, we say you choose only one rabbit to chase because otherwise you catch none. For now I have no plan.”
His run proved a demonstration of the philosophy he’d followed throughout his career, one he repeated shortly after the race: “My message,” he said, “is that no human is limited.”
Cathal Dennehy is a freelance writer based in Dublin, Ireland, who covers the sport for multiple outlets from Irish newspapers to international track websites. As an athlete, he was Irish junior cross-country champion and twice raced the European Cross Country, but since injury forced his retirement his best athletic feat has been the Irish beer mile record. He’s happiest when he’s running or writing stories about world-class athletes.
