Saturday morning, on a flat, straight, tree-lined avenue in the heart of Vienna, Eliud Kipchoge become the first person ever to break two hours in a marathon. He finished in 1:59:40, averaging 4:34 pace per mile. The time trial, dubbed the 1:59 Challenge and sponsored by INEOS, a chemical company based in the U.K, was Kipchoge’s second attempt at breaking the two-hour barrier for 26.2 miles. During a similar Nike-backed experiment in 2017 at a racetrack in Monza, Italy, he came close, clocking 2:00:25. Since then, the 34-year-old Kenyan set the world record of 2:01:39 at the 2018 Berlin Marathon. He’s also the 2016 Olympic champion and has eight World Marathon Majors titles between London, Berlin, and Chicago.
In the days leading up to the event, Kipchoge compared the breakthrough to the moon landing. Over the years, he’s become an extreme fan favorite around the world, not just for his extraordinary athletic talent, but for his warm personality, infectious smile, and his Zen-like approach to his pursuits. Along the way, he tries to encourage fans of all ages to dream big.
Following 18 years of hard, consistent training under the tutelage of his coach and mentor, Patrick Sang, the wise management of Valentijn Trouw and the additional support of INEOS he was able to achieve a moment in human history to match that of Sir Roger Bannister’s first sub-four-minute mile in 1954 and Neil Armstrong first moon-landing in 1969.
“I was really calm, I just wanted to maintain the pace,” added Eliud whose wife, Grace and three children; Lynne, Griffin and Gordon were watching him compete for the first time.
Flanked at all times by five interchangeable pacers in front and two behind him, Kipchoge stayed ahead of two-hour pace throughout the effort. Once it became clear that he was going to smash the barrier within the final kilometer, Kipchoge emerged from the pack to run the last straightaway all alone. He pointed to the crowd and celebrated an achievement that wasn’t thought to be possible until he himself made it so.
| 5km Splits | Total Time | Splits |
| 14:10 | 14:10 | 5km |
| 14:10 | 28:20 | 10km |
| 14:14 | 42:34 | 15km |
| 14:13 | 56:47 | 20km |
| 14:12 | 1:10:59 | 25km |
| 14:12 | 1:25:11 | 30km |
| 14:12 | 1:39:23 | 35km |
| 14:13 | 1:53:36 | 40km |
| 6:04 | 1:59:40 | FINISH |
The preface to this incredible day occurred over two years ago on May 6, 2017, at Nike’s Breaking 2 event in Monza, Italy. There, Kipchoge fell short of the barrier with his 2:00:25 but he showed then that he was the man destined to crack the mark. A subsequent 2:01:39 world record in Berlin in 2018— over a minute faster than the previous best at the time— proved that Kipchoge was somehow still gaining strength as a marathoner.
In contrast to the Monza effort from 2017, where the barrier slowly slipped from his grasp in the final kilometers, Kipchoge never fell off pace on Saturday. With a laser line guiding the pacers in front of him, the Kenyan steadily clicked off one 2:50 kilometer after another, varying only down to 2:48 and up to 2:52. The only signs of fatigue came when Kipchoge broke out his patented smile, a technique he has long used to relax himself during the difficult moments of a race.
Like the 2017 exhibition, his time won’t count as a world record, because organizers pulled out all the stops to make the historic result possible—some of those efforts make it ineligible, which have turned sport purists off to the experiment.
Kipchoge was given fuel bottles by supporters on bikes, his intake monitored by nutritionists to ensure he ingested just the right amount of carbs along the way. He was also aided by five teams of seven pacemakers, who swapped in and out nine times throughout the race against the clock.
The carefully choreographed V-shaped formation of some of the world’s fastest track athletes followed a car the transmitted green laser lines on the ground to keep them on time. The 41 pacemakers included American athletes Matthew Centrowitz, Hillary Bor, Bernard Lagat, Lopez Lomong, Shadrack Kipchirchir, Stanley Kebenei, and Paul Chelimo. A number of Kipchoge’s countrymen and training partners kept Kipchoge company, and other notables such as 12:43 5,000m runner, Ethiopian Selemon Barega, and the three Ingebrigtsen brothers of Norway.
The course was also specially designed to optimize Kipchoge’s chances. It was a 9.6K out-and-back on Hauptallee, with 90 percent of it run on a straightaway, and traffic roundabouts serving as the turning points on either end of the laps. The “Performance and Meteorology” teams advised on the best date and start time based on predictions for optimal weather—between 41 and 48 Fahrenheit, low humidity, and little wind.
And, Kipchoge also got by with a little help from his sponsor Nike. He wore a new version of the Vaporfly called the Next%, which keeps the 4%’s carbon fiber plate to increase efficiency and propel the runner forward, but adds more foam to the midsole.
The major deviation from the first time Kipchoge went for the sub-two-hour mark was the course, which unlike the racetrack, was on public roads to allow for spectators to cheer him on. Kipchoge has said that he is motivated by the support of the crowds.
Apparently it worked. After his pace-making duties, Matthew Centrowitz, the 2016 Olympic gold medalist in the 1500 meters, said during an interview on the broadcast that the spectators were close and loud, making it difficult for the pace teams to communicate with each other.
“It’s so exciting out there,” Centrowitz said. “The energy is through the roof.”
Two-time Olympian Lopez Lomong said: “It means the world to me. Eliud said we needed to be able to come to the moon and back and we did today. This was a momentous day. The whole world will be watching with many people putting their shoes on thinking about breaking two hours.
“Today is Eliud’s day but everyone can come out to celebrate this moment. We are all part of history. We all did this together as a running community.”
Bernard Lagat, the former world 1500m and 5000m champion and two-time Olympic 1500m medalist, who grew up in the neighboring village to Eliud, was similarly humbled.
“Eliud told the world that if you set your mind to something nothing is impossible. This is a special day today. Looking at the 1:59:40 time I got so emotional. He worked so hard for it and inspired us. It is something special. Eliud proved no human was limited and he did it.”