Eliud Kipchoge

Eliud Kipchoge (born November 5, 1984, Kapsisiywa, Kenya) is a Kenyan distance runner who is widely considered the world’s greatest marathoner. Between 2014 and 2019 he won all 10 marathons he entered, and in 2018–23 he held the world record in the event. Kipchoge credited his success to discipline and motivation.

Early life and the 5,000-meter race

Kipchoge grew up on a farm and was raised by his mother, who was a teacher; his father died when Eliud was young. He began running long distances as a child, when he would jog to and from school. At the age of 16 he met Patrick Sang, a Kenyan runner who became his longtime coach. In 2003 Kipchoge recorded his first major win, narrowly defeating Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj in the 5,000 meters at that year’s world championship. Specializing in that distance, Kipchoge later won a bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and a silver at the 2008 Games in Beijing. He also captured a silver medal at the 2007 world championships.

Marathons

After a poor performance at the Olympic trials in 2012, Kipchoge failed to make the Kenyan team. He subsequently turned his focus to marathons. The following year he competed in his first such event, in Hamburg. He won, finishing in 2 hr 5 min 30 sec. Soon after, he raced in the Berlin Marathon and placed second. In 2014 Kipchoge won the Rotterdam Marathon, in the Netherlands, which began his unprecedented winning streak. He subsequently won marathons in Chicago (2014), Berlin (2015, 2017, 2018, 2022, and 2023), and London (2015, 2016, 2018, and 2019).

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Kipchoge’s 2018 victory in Berlin set a world record: 2 hr 1 min 39 sec. Kipchoge bested that mark by 30 seconds at the 2022 Berlin Marathon; his record of 2 hr 1 min 9 sec was broken by Kelvin Kiptum in 2023. Also, he claimed a gold medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. In 2020 Kipchoge had his first loss in more than six years, when he finished eighth in the London Marathon. He attributed the poor performance to an ear problem. He rebounded at the 2020 Games in Tokyo (which were held in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic), winning his second Olympic gold medal in the marathon.

In 2023 Kipchoge made history when he became the first runner to win five Berlin Marathons. It was his 15th career win in the marathon, with just 3 losses. The following year he had a disappointing performance in the Tokyo Marathon, finishing in 10th place. At the 2024 Paris Games Kipchoge attempted to win a third straight gold medal in the marathon. However, a little under halfway through the race he withdrew because of back pain. After the race the 39-year-old Kipchoge suggested that he was considering retiring.

During this time Kipchoge sought to become the first athlete to complete a marathon in less than two hours. In 2017 the sports company Nike, which was one of his sponsors, staged a highly managed race that was designed to lower his time. He ended up completing the course, which was located outside Milan, in 2 hr 25 sec. Two years later Kipchoge ran another “assisted” marathon, in Vienna. This time he was successful, finishing in 1 hr 59 min 40 sec. However, the time was not officially recognized, since the event did not follow competition rules. The 2019 race was the subject of the documentary Kipchoge: The Last Milestone (2021).

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Training

Kipchoge attributed his incredible consistency to discipline and motivation. He notably trained with a group of runners at a high-altitude camp in Kenya, where he lived, as one observer noted, like an “ascetic monk.” Indeed, Kipchoge earned the nickname “The Philosopher” for his thoughtful approach to both running and life.