Nairobi — Double Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge underlined his status as the greatest marathoner of all time, shattering his own World Record and setting a new mark of 2:01:09 as he became only the second man in history to win four Berlin Marathon titles.
Kipchoge equalled Ethiopian great Haile Gebresellasie's record of four victories in Berlin as he absolutely blazed the course in the German capital, to add another glorious feather on his over decorated cap.
He lowered his initial world mark by 30 seconds.
From the start, it was never in doubt that Kipchoge, who set the Course Record at the Tokyo Marathon in March was a man on a mission.
He had played down his attempt at a second career world record pre-race, saying he was just concerned about running a 'good race'. But on the course, he pulled up a business face.
He knackered the first half of the race in 59:51, almost a minute less than what he had asked for in his pace notes; 60:50.
He had gone through the first 5km in 14:14 and cleared 10km in 28:23, well within his 2018 World Record. His splits in 2022 were faster than they were when he ran his 2:01.39 World Record in 2018.
Defending champion Guye Adola who had run him close in his 2017 win began to fade off just after 10km, the punishing pace of the double Olympic champion proving too tough. His compatriot, Andamlak Belihu, stuck to Kipchoge's wings.
At the halfway mark, the pacemakers who had done their jobs superbly dropped off, leaving Kipchoge and Belihu chasing down each other. But the gap between the two began to grow.
Kipchoge dropped the pace in the second half of the race and his split between the 25-26km mark was 2:53, five seconds slower than his fastest split of the race, 2:48.
He also went through 33km with a 2:53 pace, maintaining a steady run as he still remained within World Record pace.
With seven kilometres of the race left, it was not a question of whether he would break the World Record, but by how much he would.
He kept his pace steady, focus sharp and didn't look to flinch. He was a man on a mission. His split between 37 and 38km dropped to 3:02, his slowest in the race, but he was still within the mark.
But, with victory in sight, he injected his pace back to sub three, running 2:53 between 40-41km, with his usual smile of pain starting to build on his face. He strode on, a man on a mission and he achieved another historic feat.
WORLD RECORD !!️ 2:01:09 🤯KING-CHOGE 👑#BerlinMarathon pic.twitter.com/FFOWv4aGMn-- World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) September 25, 2022
