2023-10-08 17:39:40
The 23-year-old Kenyan won the Illinois marathon this Sunday, October 8, finishing 34 seconds faster than the previous record of his compatriot and star Eliud Kipchoge.
The Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum achieved a feat this Sunday, October 8 in Chicago by beating the marathon world record of his compatriot Eliud Kipchoge, in 2:00:35 compared to 2:01:09 (in Berlin 2022). Already close to breaking the record in London in April, Kiptum, aged 23, was only running his third competitive marathon in Illinois, but without Kipchoge, who won in Berlin in September.
Passed in 1 hour and 48 seconds halfway through the race, Kiptum managed as usual to accelerate further in the second half to let go of his compatriot Daniel Mateiko at the 33rd kilometer, before flying towards the finish line, in perfect weather conditions (between 7 and 10 degrees, overcast weather, light wind). “I wasn’t necessarily ready for that, but a world record, I’m so happy! I knew I would beat this record one day,” declared the winner into the organizer’s microphone.
Less than a year after his first marathon in Valencia (2:01:53 in December 2022), Kiptum becomes the fastest athlete in history over the queen distance, where Eliud Kipchoge, aged 38, had triumphed after a career built in stages, first on the track until he was 27. Kiptum therefore won his only three marathons contested, in eleven months. He had already come close to the world record in April in London (2:01:25). The young Kenyan has never run against Kipchoge: a clash is hoped for next year at the Paris Olympics, where his elder will aim for a third consecutive marathon title.
The Dutch Sifan Hassan sets the 2nd best time in history
Among the women, the Dutch Sifan Hassan, only six weeks after being a medalist at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest (over 1,500 and 5,000 m), crushed the Chicago marathon this Sunday in 2 h 13 min 44 s, the second best time in history. Hassan (30 years old) achieved his feat only two weeks after the new world record of the Ethiopian Tigst Assefa in Berlin (2:11:53), and a few minutes after the men’s world record of the Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum (2:00). : 35).
“I am so happy ! the last five kilometers were terribly painful. But I love the marathon,” she rejoiced after the line. “This is only my second marathon, it’s incredible. I had difficulty at the start, I ended up catching (Kenyan) Ruth Chepngetich. Maybe we left too quickly. I am very happy with my training, I worked hard, but I did not think I would be capable of such a time.”
Tireless, Hassan ran on Sunday just six weeks after the world athletics championships in Budapest, where she competed in the 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000 m, for two medals (bronze in the 1,500 m, silver in the 5,000 m). The Dutchwoman, a three-time Olympic medalist on the track, had already achieved a feat for her debut over the distance in April in London (2:18:33) with a victory despite cramping problems during the race.
The women’s marathon was marked by the unprecedented world record of the Ethiopian Tigst Assefa established two weeks ago in Berlin in 2 h 11 min: 53 s, more than two minutes faster than the previous mark of the Kenyan Brigid Kosgei , successful in Chicago in 2019 (2:14:04), and now also erased by Sifan Hassan.
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