History was made in at the Chicago Marathon on Sunday when Kenya's Kelvin Kiptum became the first man to break the two hours and one minute in a legitimate race.
The 23-year-old, who has only ran a handful of marathons in his career to date, clocked a time of 2.00.35 to take the world record from compatriot Eliud Kipchoge which was set just over a year ago at the Berlin Marathon.
Kipchoge's best of 2.01.09 was comfortably beaten by Kiptum, who knocked 34 seconds off it.
WORLD RECORD 🤯
🇰🇪's Kelvin Kiptum destroys the marathon world record* at the @ChiMarathon with 2:00:35 😵
He becomes the first man in history to break 2:01.
*Subject to the usual ratification procedures pic.twitter.com/gRYYzE89d0— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) October 8, 2023
A 2:00:35 marathon by Kelvin Kiptum to take 34 seconds off the world record. How long will this one last? pic.twitter.com/ZqMSzfnvsc
— Cathal Dennehy (@Cathal_Dennehy) October 8, 2023
WORLD RECORD: We have a new man in town. Kelvin Kiptum just broke Eliud Kipchoge's World Record with an unofficial time of 2:00:35! UNBELIEVABLE! pic.twitter.com/XfeMEzPveZ
— Chicago Marathon (@ChiMarathon) October 8, 2023
The young athlete ran away from the field to take victory on the streets of the American city.
How did Kelvin Kiptum break the marathon world record?
Kiptum was outside world record pace at the halfway mark, which he went through in 1.00.48 with fellow Kenyan runner Daniel Kibet still in touch with him.
It really wasn't until the last 10km until the world record came into sight as Kiptum pulled away, running an astonishingly fast 13.51 for the 5k between 30k and 35k.
He also dropped a 4.18 mile after 22 of the 26.2, one of the fastest in marathon history.
Kelvin Kiptum just ran his 22nd mile in 4:18.
4:18!
That's one of the fastest (THE fastest?) miles ever run in a marathon, and he's doing it 22 miles in...— Jonathan Gault (@jgault13) October 8, 2023
It is a remarkable feat considering this time last year he had not even raced over the distance. In the past ten months he has won both the Valencia and London marathons and next year at the Olympics in Paris will look to stop Kipchoge in his quest to become the first man to win three Olympic marathon golds.
Kipchoge memorably broke the two hour mark at a special event in Vienna in 2019 however due to the nature of the race it was not eligible for record purposes.
In the Women's race Sifan Hassan of The Netherlands won in a time of 2.13:33, a new European record in the second marathon of her career.
Hassan's time is also the second fastest women's marathon ever. Tigst Assefa broke that record only two weeks ago in Berlin when the Ethiopian ran 2.11.53.
A month ago Hassan won bronze over 1500m at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, finishing narrowly ahead of Ireland's Ciara Mageean.
Later at those championships she also medalled in the 5000m.
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