Kenyan double Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge won the Tokyo marathon on Sunday March 6 in 2 hours, 2 minutes and 40 seconds, a course record and 4th best performance in history.
Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge, running legend, attacked this Sunday for the first time in the Tokyo marathon, seven months after winning a second Olympic champion title on the queen distance in Japan. Kipchoge had won, after Rio in 2016, a second Olympic marathon title last summer in Sapporo during the Tokyo Games, devoting his domination over the 42.195 km where he is also the official world record holder (2h01:39 in 2018 at Berlin) and unofficial (1h59:41 in Vienna in 2019 during an event set up for him).
Kipchoge wants to win all six marathons” adults »
With his time of the day, he now holds three of the four fastest times in history over the queen distance of 42.195 km. The 37-year-old running legend broke away from compatriot Amos Kipruto after around 35km of running and finished just over a minute off his record of 2:01:39 set in Berlin in 2018 .
” I am very happy. After my second Olympic gold medal in Japan last summer, I came back to Tokyo to do a big race. A marathon in 2h02 and the victory, that’s what I call a big race “, did he declare. However, Kipchoge was not helped when, at km 10, the leading group made a mistake in a corner. He then lost about ten seconds, and his rhythm, when this group came back towards him to resume the correct route. His compatriot Amos Kipruto (29), world bronze medalist over the distance in 2019, finished second in 2:03:13.
The 37-year-old Kenyan has been claiming his desire to win all six marathons for several years. adults », the most prestigious in the world. With his first appearance in the Japanese capital and his victory, he won a fourth after Chicago, London and Berlin, and possibly before Boston and New York. He also hopes to triple his Olympic title at the Paris Games in 2024, which would be an unprecedented feat.