Eliud Kipchoge broke his own marathon world record at the Berlin Marathon yesterday – but says 'there’s still more in my legs'.

The 37-year-old Kenyan crossed the line in 2:01:09 – 30 seconds faster than his previous record (2:01:39), which he set at the Berlin Marathon in 2018.

Supported initially by a team of pacemakers, the double Olympic Champion set out at a ferocious pace, reaching 5K in 14:14 and halfway in 59:51 – on pace for a projected finish of 1:59:41, and by some margin the fastest first half of a marathon ever run.

Kipchoge has run a sub-two marathon before – in Vienna, in 2019 – but that was part of the INEOS 1:59 Challenge, where he followed a phalanx of pacers for almost the entire distance and does not count as an official world record.

His chances of running an official sub-two in the Germany capital yesterday, however, began to fade as the latter half of the race unfolded and his pace started to gradually slow down. By 25K, his pacemakers had dropped off the course and he had to complete most of the second half of the race alone. Andamlak Belihu of Ethiopia had stuck right behind Kipchoge for the first half, but began to fall behind around the 26K mark.

Despite losing a little pace in the last few miles, Kipchoge held on, managing to retain a comparatively wide margin over his previous world record. 'I was planning to go 60:50/60:40 [for the first half],' he said in a post-race interview. 'My legs were running actually very fast. I thought, let me just try to run two hours flat, but all in all, I am happy with the performance.'

When asked if he could improve his time even further, he said: 'There’s still more in my legs and I hope the future's still great. My mind is still thinking wise. The body is actually still absorbing the training and racing.'

Does this mean we'll see Kipchoge running even faster in Berlin next year – and even clocking sub-two at a World Marathon Major? Runners World, Part of the Hearst UK Wellbeing Network next year, Kipchoge replied: 'Let us plan for another day. I will celebrate this record and have to realise what happens. Just roll and see what happens.'

Elsewhere, Tigist Assefa of Ethiopia clocked a PB of 2:15:37 yesterday to win the women's race, taking her to No.3 on the world all-time rankings. It was an astonishing improvement on her only previous marathon, which she finished in 2:34, though she has run a half marathon in 67:28.