30 year old Dennis Kimetto from Kenya set a new world record of 2h 02m 57s when he won the 2014 Berlin Marathon on Sunday 28th Sept 2014. Emmanuel Mutai who finished in second place in 2h 03:13s also broke the old record of 2h 03m 23s which was set by Wilson Kipsang in 2013. The temperature today was a cool 8 deg C in contrast to other warmer years so conditions were perfect.
Full race....2h 50m long. Finish ~2:12. Commentary in German...
After winning the race, Kimetto said...."I feel good because I won a very tough race. I felt good from the start and in the last few miles I felt I could do it and break the record."
These are the marathon records as they were set over the last 30 years....
2:08:05 Steve Jones United Kingdom Oct 21, 1984 Chicago Marathon
2:07:12 Carlos Lopes Portugal Apr 20, 1985 Rotterdam Marathon
2:06:50 Belayneh Dinsamo Ethiopia Apr 17, 1988 Rotterdam Marathon
2:06:05 Ronaldo da Costa Brazil Sept 20, 1998 Berlin Marathon
2:05:42 Khalid Khannouchi Morocco Oct 24, 1999 Chicago Marathon
2:05:38 Khalid Khannouchi United States Apr 14, 2002 London Marathon
2:04:55 Paul Tergat Kenya Sept 28, 2003 Berlin Marathon
2:04:26 Haile Gebrselassie Ethiopia Sept 30, 2007 Berlin Marathon
2:03:59 Haile Gebrselassie Ethiopia Sept 28, 2008 Berlin Marathon
2:03:38 Patrick Makau Kenya Sept 25, 2011 Berlin Marathon
2:03:23 Wilson Kipsang Kenya Sept 29, 2013 Berlin Marathon
2:02:57 Dennis Kimetto Kenya Sept 28 2014 Berlin Marathon
The chart above shows the progression. As you can see, the record is broken by about 20-30 seconds each time and the question now is how long will this new record last?
It will also no doubt raise the question again of whether a sub 2 hour marathon is possible? In this interview, the former record holder Wilson Kipsang said he believes that a sub 2 hour marathon is possible after the record gets into the 2:01 region first...
So is it really possible? The current record of 2:02:57 is 4:41 minute mile pace. A 2 hour marathon would be an incredible 4:34 per mile pace.
By the way, the current half-marathon record is 58:23...4:27 per mile pace.
3 comments:
A Sub 2 hour marathon is possible. The record has come down by 2 min 41 seconds in the last 12 years and now stands just 2 min 47 seconds outside 2 hours. I hope I am still around when that milestone is reached. In the meantime what an incredible performance from Kimetto.
Ignoring everything else and just looking at numbers, the last few minutes have taken about 5 years each to crack. So 2:02 in theory will take approx 5 years to break into 2:01. 15 years to the magic 2 hour barrier?
Lay your bets now on a 15 year old Kenyan! ;-)
There's no doubt about it that its possible, people also thought a 4min mile wasn't possible at one stage. Its a matter of when rather than if
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