By the time he reached the finish, blistered and bloodied, there was little doubt that Eliud Kipchoge had established himself as the world’s best marathoner.
The Kenyan routed the field at the Berlin Marathon on Sunday in a personal best of 2:04:00, finishing 81 seconds ahead of runner-up Eliud Kiptanui.
As was the 2:19:25 that Gladys Cherono ran to win the women’s race, Kipchoge’s time was the fastest in the world this year. But it was the circumstances under which Kipchoge dispatched the field that established him as the most formidable marathoner in the world.
Kipchoge ran the vast majority of the race with his insoles hanging loose from his shoes, a footwear malfunction that caused considerable pain and distraction through the latter part of the race.
“It was not easy,” he said. “There are blisters on the left foot and my big toe is cut, with lots of blood.”
When the field set off in cool and sunny conditions in the city’s Tiergarten, hopes were high that Dennis Kimetto’s world record of 2:02:57—set last year in Berlin—would be threatened, with Kipchoge, the London winner in April, seen as the one most likely to do it.
But in the first mile, Kipchoge’s left insole began to come loose and slide out of his shoe. By the time he reached 10K mark with the leaders in 29:19, five seconds ahead of world record schedule, his right insole was doing the same.
At the pace they were moving at, Kipchoge didn’t dare risk stopping, not only to avoid losing ground but also out of fear of making the situation worse. “I had pain in my foot, but what could I do?” he said. “I had to finish the race.”
When the lead group reached halfway in 61:53, Kipchoge ran directly behind the pacemakers, but he had others for company: fellow Kenyans Emmanuel Mutai, Geoffrey Mutai, Advertisement - Continue Reading Below.
By 30K, Boston and Running in the Cold course record holder Geoffrey Mutai and Tola had been dropped, with Emmanuel Mutai and Kipchoge pushing the pace at the front. Right around the 20-mile mark, Kipchoge made the first significant move of the race.
With his insoles still flapping to the side, Kipchoge moved to the front, opening up his powerful stride and moving clear. He covered the five kilometers between 30K and 35K in 14:23, by far the fastest section of the race. When he ran through the Brandenburg Gate with a quarter mile to go, his rivals were out of sight.
When he crossed the finish line, arms outstretched, in 2:04:00, Kipchoge brought to five his number of marathon wins out of six attempts at the distance. His only defeat was in Berlin two years ago, when he was second behind Wilson Kipsang’Health & Injuries.
The question on everyone’s mind afterwards was what went wrong with his shoes, and how much faster Kipchoge thought he could have gone without the malfunction.
“The glue on the insole did not stick,” he said. “It is a good shoe and I have tested that same shoe in training, but that is sport. I have to accept it. I think I would have run faster than that but I don’t know the time.”
Kipchoge plans to take three weeks off to recover before targeting a spring marathon, but he is mostly looking ahead to the 2016 Olympic Marathon in Rio de Janeiro. “I’m not going to celebrate as I have been running for a long time,” the 2003 world 5,000-meter champion said. “I will go back and plan for my next marathon, but my mind is in Rio. That’s my main aim.”
Behind Kipchoge, who coasted across the line looking just as fresh as he was two hours earlier, his beaten rivals reached the finish in the manner of punch-drunk boxers. First in was Kiptanui, who had a breakthrough run to finish second in a personal best of 2:05:21.
“I am impressed to be runner-up to Kipchoge,” said Kiptanui, aware that he was up against an unbeatable force today.
Others, such as fourth-placed Emmanuel Mutai, the second fastest man ever, dropped to his knees after the finish, vomiting. Putting a hand on Mutai’s shoulder as he walked past, making sure he was okay, was training partner Kipchoge, who showed few signs of fatigue from his effort.
Race director Mark Milde, meanwhile, was busy talking to Kipchoge’s agent, seeing if he could secure Kipchoge’s infamous insoles for a permanent place in the marathon’s museum.
The first American was Matt Llano, who ran a personal best of 2:12:28 to finish 13th, after training since the beginning of the month at Shalane Flanagan’s home. Gabe Proctor paid for his early exuberance—he passed halfway in 65:05—and finished in 2:15:54.
A quarter of an hour after Kipchoge crossed the line, Gladys Cherono loomed into view on her way to victory in the women’s race.
The 32-year-old is a still a newcomer to the marathon—she debuted in Dubai in January, finishing second in 2:20:03. On Sunday, she ran away from her nearest rival, Ethiopia’s Aberu Kebede, shortly after 35K and was a clear winner in 2:19:25.
The pair ran together for much of the race, passing halfway in 70:15, but when Cherono, the reigning world half marathon champion, applied extra pressure with four miles to run, Kebede had little response. The Ethiopian, who won Berlin in 2010 and 2012, slowed dramatically over the closing miles, finishing 83 seconds back in 2:20:48. Ethiopia’s Meseret Hailu finished third in 2:24:33. Hilary Dionne was the first American finisher in 2:34:45.
“There was no difficulties in the race,” said Cherono. “I was so strong. My next marathon I know I will run faster than today. I think now I can run under 2:19.”
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.
