New marathon record set in Berlin by Eliud Kipchoge - Sun 25th Sept 2022

Last week, I had a post up about whether Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya could break his own marathon record of 2:01:39 in the 2022 Berlin Marathon?

Sure enough, he duly delivered last Sunday with an amazing time of 2h 01m 09s which was 30 seconds faster than his previous record set in Berlin in 2018.

The new record works out as an average pace of 4:37 per mile (2:52/km) for 26.2 miles which is just crazy.

The problem when reading media reports about new records is that it can often be difficult to know how much of an improvement a new record is. Is a 29-second improvement a lot? How much were the previous records broken by?

With that in mind, I put together a chart showing the progression of the marathon record since the year 2000.

After the 2002 record was set in London, the next six records were broken by these amounts... 43s, 29s, 27s, 21s, 15s & 25s... an average of 27-seconds. In this regard, the improvement by 30-seconds this year is a similar to the amount that the record was broken in previous years.

The major outlier recently though was Kipchoge's record of 2:01:39 in 2018 which was a huge improvement of 78-seconds on Kimetto's record of 2:02:57 set in 2014. 

The one major change in the last few years has been the advances in running shoe technology with inbuilt levers returning more energy to the athlete when the foot hits the ground. It very likely that this accounts for a lot of  the huge improvement of 78-seconds in 2018.

Is a sub 2-hour record possible??? The new marathon record of 2:01:09 is still 69-seconds away from the 2-hour barrier. Without some sort of game changing shoe tech, it's a huge gap to bridge.

On the 12th of October 2019 in Vienna, Kipchoge ran 1:59:40 for the INEOS 1:59 Challenge. This involved running 4.4 laps of the Hauptallee, a tree-lined avenue picked as the location because of its long, flat straight sections and its protection from the wind.

The effort did not count as an official new world record under IAAF rules due to several factors...

a) It was not an open event.
b) Kipchoge was handed fluids by his support team throughout.
c) The run featured a pace car.
d) Kipchoge had a team of 41 pacemakers, featuring some of the best middle and long-distance runners. 

It's worth noting that all of the marathon records since 2003 have been set in Berlin. In 2019, two Ethiopian athletes ran 2:02:48 and 2:01:41 in Berlin so it's seem to be the marathon of choice for the fastest times.

In November of this year, Kipchoge will be 38-years old and is probably close to the end of his running career. If someone does eventually break 2-hours then I suspect it will be someone younger and a really exceptional athlete.

It's possible that the marathon record in an open race may never reach two hours. The aerodynamic drag at these speeds is a major factor which may be the ultimate stumbling block.

Berlin Video... This video from Total Running Productions gives an overview of Kipchoge's race last Sunday.

Will a new marathon record be set in Berlin next Sunday??

Back in September of 2018, Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya won the Berlin Marathon in a time of 2:01:39. This was a new world record for the marathon, breaking the previous world record by 1 minute and 18 seconds (2:02:57).

On the 12th of October 2019 in Vienna, Kipchoge ran 1:59:40 for the INEOS 1:59 Challenge. This involved running 4.4 laps of the Hauptallee, a tree-lined avenue picked as the location because of its long, flat straight sections and its protection from the wind.

The effort did not count as an official new world record under IAAF rules due to several factors...

a) It was not an open event.
b) Kipchoge was handed fluids by his support team throughout.
c) The run featured a pace car.
d) Kipchoge had a team of 41 pacemakers, featuring some of the best middle and long-distance runners. 

With the Berlin marathon coming up next Sunday, Kipchoge has given a few hints that he may try to break his marathon record again.

This short 8-minute video below from Total Running Productions gives a good preview of Kipchoge's recent times and history of his records.

National Geographic programme on the Sub 2-Hour Marathon attempt

National Geographic recently released this fascinating video about the 2017 attempt at running a marathon in under two hours. The 55 minute programme follows three world class athletes as they prepare for the attempt. The performance of Eliud Kipochoge in particular. is pretty amazing.

Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya runs a 2:00:25 Marathon

In a highly publicised event, Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya ran a 2 hour and 25 second marathon in Italy on Saturday the 6th of May 2017. While the time was more than two and a half minutes faster than the official world record of 2:02:57 set by Dennis Kimetto in 2014, it won't count as a new record due to several factors.

a) He was joined by teams of pacers which isn't allowed in a normal marathon.

b) The team of pacers adopted an arrowhead formation behind a Tesla electric car with a giant clock timer on it. This would have greatly reduced the wind resistance.

c) Kipchoge was given sports drinks delivered by helpers on mopeds, another practice not allowed in major marathons.

NIKE are reported to have spent in the region of 2 million dollars in the sub 2 hour marathon attempt with Kipchoge alone said to have got $1 million to participate in the attempt instead of doing a major city marathon.

As you can see, the pace was an incredible 4m 26s per mile for 26.2 miles. He was on course at the half way mark with a time of 59m 58s but slowed slightly in the second half.

Afterwards, Kipchoge said in an interview “This journey has been a long one. It has been hard. It has taken seven good months of preparation and dedication but I am a happy to run a marathon in just over two hours. I think the world now is just 25 seconds away.”


While the time was not an official record, it shows that the current record is under threat. Kipchoge is expected this at some stage in the future.

Closing stage of attempt...

Kenyan wins Berlin Marathon in 2:04 with his insoles hanging out

One of the big talking points this week across the various running media sites is how Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya won the Berlin Marathon last weekend in a time of 2 hours and 4 minutes despite the fact that the insoles of his shoes came loose from as early as the one mile mark.

These are the six fastest marathon times on record eligible courses.

Fastest Marathoners on Record-Eligible Course: Men
Dennis Kimetto (Kenya)    2:02:57    Berlin, 2014
Emmanuel Mutai (Kenya)    2:03:13    Berlin, 2014
Wilson Kipsang (Kenya)    2:03:23    Berlin, 2013
Patrick Makau (Kenya)    2:03:38    Berlin, 2011
Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia)    2:03:59    Berlin, 2008
Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya)    2:04:00    Berlin, 2015

The question that everyone is asking is how fast could Kipchoge have run if he didn't have problems with his shoes? Would he have broken the world record which was 63 seconds faster? After the race, he said...“There are blisters on the left foot and my big toe is cut, with lots of blood”...which certainly suggests that it must have had an impact on his finish time.

As for the shoe, it would seem that it was a special type of prototype racing flat from Nike. Even though it had been 'tested' beforehand, the insoles weren't glued properly and the Kipchoge's powerful forefoot striking and paw-back motion caused the insole to fail and be pushed backwards as early as the first mile. Considering how early it failed, it certainly sounds as if it wasn't tested properly and should have been picked up prior to the race in a short training run.