At the finish, there were tears. Teenage girls clapped and cried with joy, grown men began to well up, and everyone—just about everyone here in Vienna—stored in their mind an image that would last forever.
This result, of course, was like no other after Eliud Kipchoge set off from the Reichsbrücke bridge on Saturday morning, the 34-year-old Kenyan bounded to the finish in the Prater park and took his place among the immortals.
All around, there was an outpouring of joy, as if humanity itself was celebrating its ascent to a new level.
It may not have been an official world record, because of the use of rotating pacemakers and because Kipchoge was handed his Shoes & Gear, but it was still the Runners World 2020 Calendar. At long last, the impossible dream had become a reality.
Kipchoge beat his chest with both hands as he crossed the line in what was—for the mild-mannered, soft-spoken Kenyan—a rare moment of bravado. Then he kept on running, into the arms of his wife, Grace, who spun him around in a joyous circle.
He next saw Patrick Sang, a neighbor throughout his childhood and the man who guided his career for the past two decades. Sang wrapped his arms around Kipchoge and hoisted him in the air. Among the thousands of fans and dozens of champions who were there—many just to watch and others like Americans Paul Chelimo, Lopez Lomong, Matthew Centrowitz, and Bernard Lagat there to pace him to greatness—one man rose above.
“I wanted to send a message to the world,” Kipchoge said, “that no human is limited.”
INEOS 1:59 Challenge INEOS 1:59 Challenge was many months and many millions in the making, with hundreds of the brightest minds in sport lending their technological support and 41 world-class athletes acting as pacemakers.
Nike had built Kipchoge the most efficient running shoe ever made, one the company would not offer information on during the buildup to the race. An industry insider told Runner’s World the shoe—set for release in 2020—was far more effective than its previous edition, the NEXT%.
fastest marathon ever run.
He went to bed last night at 9 p.m.. but woke up earlier than planned at 3 a.m. He tossed and turned for a couple of hours, his mind restless. Unable to sleep, he had his usual prerace meal—a bowl of oatmeal—then the countdown began to the 8:15 a.m. start.
“That was my hardest time,” Kipchoge said. “It was not relaxed.”
His coach, typically as cool as they come, was a bundle of stress. “I was nervous,” Sang said. “I went to the toilet many times.”
The journey to the first sub-two-hour marathon was never going to be straightforward, but what unfolded over the next two hours appeared to be exactly that.
On a cool, calm morning with barely a breath of wind, Kipchoge slotted behind five pacemakers as he made the downhill journey to the Prater, where he completed four 9.6K circuits of an up-and-back course.
Every 4.8K, seven new pacemakers would swap in, five of them running in front of Kipchoge in a V-shape with two behind, which was found during wind tunnel testing as the most aerodynamic arrangement. Only a few times did it look like the rotation of runners would throw off Kipchoge’s pacing. With a car projecting a laser beam in front of the pack, the group maintained an even pace throughout, reeling off splits that averaged 2:50 per kilometer (4:33 per mile).
They hit halfway in approximately 59:52, with no official half marathon time recorded as only kilometer splits were being taken. Some believed Kipchoge was struggling when his famous half-smile, half-grimace soon appeared. But was he?
“It’s untrue,” he said later. “I was really calm and trying to maintain the pace. All [I was thinking about] was running under two hours. It was not 50-50, it was 90 percent.”
As the minutes ticked by, it was clear the once unimaginable feat was about to happen. The crowds swelled alongside the road, thousands of fans leaning over the railings and bashing the sponsor’s signs as they chanted: “Kip-cho-ge, Kip-cho-ge!”
With 1:45 on the clock, he passed under the finish line for the penultimate time, and Kipchoge charged through a tunnel of desperate, deafening sound. Amid all the chaos—the stressed faces of organizers, the bubbling energy of fans, the stern focus of pacemakers—he was placid.
There was no trace of fatigue, his stride fully fluid despite the obvious physical distress of running so fast for so long. His manager, Valentijn Trouw, rode alongside on a bike, his emotions welling up as he realized how close Kipchoge was to realizing his dream.
“He trained for four and a half months, but he lives with this idea for many years,” Trouw said. “Now that it was really happening, it’s a very special moment.”
On Kipchoge went, up and around the Praterstern roundabout for the final time, leaving just over two kilometers between him and history. As he neared the finish, the team of pacemakers splintered, dropping back to allow Kipchoge run to the finish out front.
He cranked up the pace even more, bounding across the line and into his wife’s arms. Kipchoge said she gave him a simple message: “Congratulations, you have done it. History has been made.”
Back in Kenya, they gathered in thousands at various locations, dancing in the streets in front of big screens as their national hero became a global sporting icon. Kipchoge said he wanted to “rally world, not only Kenyans.”
Sport, he said, “is where you can unify the whole world.”
As he was ushered for interviews with the world’s media, his coach walked quietly in the background, as is his way. Sang was the one who developed Kipchoge’s astonishing ability over the years, from his world 5,000-meter track title in 2003 to Olympic marathon gold in 2016 to the marathon At long last, the impossible dream had become a reality and now, finally, to this.
But how did Kipchoge develop such unshakeable mental strength to become—and remain—a champion without comparison?
“He was born with it, and experience makes it stronger,” Sang said. “He’s one of those guys who puts in everything, 100 percent focus. It’s a privilege that he’s given me the opportunity to develop his career.”
Trouw said the key to Kipchoge’s success is his attitude. “It’s a really noble, serious and respectful approach. It’s an approach of loving the sport, of putting in the hard work and accepting any result that comes.”
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“Together we have gone to the moon,” Kipchoge said. “This is big history, and it can be translated in a positive way. The message is now in everybody’s mind that if you put in your heart and your mind and say it in your mouth, it can be realized.”
Members of his pacemaking team were amazed at being a part of such a moment, but not at all surprised because of who was attempting this. “This is a special day today,” Bernard Lagat said. “Looking at the 1:59:40 time I got so emotional. He worked so hard for it and inspired us. It is something special, really special.”
Lopez Lomong added, “Today is Eliud’s day, but everyone can come out to celebrate this moment. We are all part of history. We all did together as a running community.”
From training tips, to fueling strategies, to improving the mind-body connection, the.
“As normal,” he said. “I don’t go haywire by celebrating. I always celebrate in a human way, a calm way.”
His journey is far from over. If all goes well, in the next nine months Kipchoge will be the heavy favorite for 2020 Olympic marathon gold in Tokyo, and he’s already thinking ahead.
[From training tips, to fueling strategies, to improving the mind-body connection, the Runner's World 2020 Calendar A Pro Athlete Takes on The Great World Race.]
“I’m a believer that if you climb to one branch, then you reach for the next branch,” he said.
Like the all-time greats in any field, from sports to music to literature, immortality is reserved for those whose work long outlives them. Back in the late 1700s, Vienna was home to a prodigious composer in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose legacy forever echoes.
And here, more than two centuries later, came a man from rural Kenya who has re-positioned the boundaries of human ability. An athlete who has made us all reconsider what is possible.
“Today,” Kipchoge said. “I have realized my dream.”
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.
