Eliud Kipchoge: The incredible numbers behind Kenyan’s sub two-hour marathon in Ineos 1:59 challenge
The Kenyan made history in Vienna with the help of 41 pacemakers
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Your support makes all the difference.Eliud Kipchoge has become the first runner to finish a marathon in under two hours.
The 34-year-old Kenyan completed the course in Vienna, Austria, in an incredible one hour, 59 minutes and 40 seconds.
Kipchoge was racing alone but assisted by 41 pacemakers, including former Olympic and world record holders, in his attempt to achieve the milestone.
The time will not be an official world record but is nonetheless a historic moment in distance running.
Here are the numbers behind the Kenyan’s incredible achievement.
Kipchoge finished in 01:59:40.2, that means he ran 4:34 minutes per mile – or 2:50 minutes per km.
Only five of the 51,363,611 5km Park Runs completed have been faster than the pace set by Kipchoge - with the marathon distance of 26.219 miles, 8.44 times further than the Park Run distance (3.11km).
His official average speed clocked at 13.16mph (21.18 kmph).
His average time per 100m was 17.02 seconds, 200m at 34.03, 400m at 01:08.06, 800m at 02:16.13 and 1,500m at 04:15.3. His 100m pace was replicated 422 times.
Kipchoge also had a 10-second cushion on expected finish time at the half-way stage (13.1 miles)
For context, the world records at those distances are as follows: 100m: 9.58, 200m: 19.19, 400m: 40:03, 800m: 1:40.91, 1,500m: 3:26, while the world record at 5km is 12:37.35, 10km: 26:17.53 and half marathon at 58:18.
Here are the official splits from the Ineos 1:59 Challenge.
Official splits
5km 00:14:10
10km 00:28:20
15km 00:42:34
20km 00:56:47
25km 01:10:59
30km 01:25:11
35km 01:39:23
40km 01:59:40
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