By 2030 we will be able to write “Today a record was broken that was thought impossible to break: the marathon in less than 2 hours.” At least according to projections by distinguished mathematicians, it will still take 17 years for a man to break the two-hour wall. Two hours to cover 42,195 meters.
In the meantime, however, the world record in the marathon still remains the one set in Berlin on Sept. 29, 2013, by a man who brought that mark another 15 seconds closer. That man is Wilson Kipsang.
2:03:23
TWO HOURS, THREE MINUTES, and TWENTY-THREE SECONDS.
Berlin is confirmed for the fifth time as the perfect marathon to set a world record. As many as five records have in fact been set in the German capital itself: the Brazilian Ronaldo Da Costa in 1998, Kenyans Paul Tergat in 2003, Haile Gebreselassie in 2007 and 2008, and Makau two years ago. Patrick Makau Musyoki himself was the man to beat, although it seemed that his achievement would last for a few more years. But to 2030 we have to get there, don’t we? So Kipsang took care of it, and not by beating the previous one by a whisker, but by a whopping 15 seconds. As if to say: try to do better than this.
Let me guess: His name is Wilson but he is Kenyan.
Correct. Kenyan. Like all the men’s podium in Berlin yesterday: second Eliud Kipchoge in 2.04.05 and third Geoffrey Kipsang (no relation to the winner) in 2.06.26.
Wilson Kipsang is 31 years old. He started running with the Kenyan police and his first official placing was a second place at the Tegla Loroupe Peace March (which we are familiar with). Until 2010 he ran many 10k’s and as many half-marathons – winning and falling under 59 minutes several times. But he ran his first marathons only in 2010: Paris (third with 2:07:13) and Frankfurt, which he won with 2:04:57, a time that made him (until yesterday) the eighth fastest marathoner in the world. In 2012 he won the London Marathon with 2:04:44. At the 2012 London Olympics, he won a bronze and ended 2012 by winning in Honolulu.
He started 2013 by winning the New York Half Marathon and achieving other mixed results. Until yesterday, in Berlin.
There is a new King of the Marathon: his name is Wilson Kipsang.
(Photo from Flickr by by clindstedt)