This Sunday, Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum broke the marathon world record by winning the Chicago Marathon in 2:00.35 hours, 34 seconds less than the previous maximum.
Kiptum, who had already threatened to break the record in London in April, competed in only his third marathon, after having surpassed the mark of his compatriot Eliud Kipchoge (2:01.09), set in 2022, in Berlin.
The Kenyan athlete, who completed the half marathon in 1:00.08 hours, accelerated in the second half of the race, in which he left the company of his compatriot Daniel Mateiko at kilometer 33, and then continued alone towards the finish line, in favorable conditions. weather conditions (between seven and 10 degrees, overcast weather).
“I wasn’t prepared for this, but it’s a world record, I’m very happy. I knew that one day I would beat this record,” Kiptum, 23, declared at the end.
Just a year after his first marathon, in Valencia, which he won in 2:01.53 hours, Kiptum became the fastest athlete in the queen distance of athletics, having won all three races so far.
The Dutch Sifan Hassan, just six months after winning a medal at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, clearly won the women’s event, after achieving the second best historical record in the distance (2:13.44 hours).
Hassan, 30, reached this mark just two weeks after Ethiopian Tigst Assefa set the best time of all time, winning in Berlin in 2:13.44 hours.
Source: TSF
