Berlin Marathon: Eliud Kipchoge sets new world record by biggest margin since 1967; Gladys Cherono runs women’s course record
Records fell at the Berlin Marathon when the Kenyan runner completed the course in 2:39 and his female counterpart won the women’s race
Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge set a marathon world record, winning the Berlin race in two hours one minute and 39 seconds on Sunday.
Organisers initially put Kipchoge’s time at 2:01.40, but later reduced it by one second.
Kipchoge, 33, broke the previous world record set in Berlin by fellow Kenyan Dennis Kimetto in 2014 by one minute and 18 seconds. It the biggest margin for a new record since 1967, when Derek Clayton beat the then record by two minutes and 24 seconds.
“I lack words to describe this day,” Kipchoge said.
“They say you miss two times but you can’t miss the third time,” he said in reference to his two previous failed attempts to break the world record in Berlin.
The Kenyan defended his 2017 title in the German capital, pulling ahead of other runners early on amid perfect conditions. Mild temperatures and little to no wind gave the runners of the 45th Berlin marathon an advantage over last year, when rain slowed the race.