Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum, 23, broke the marathon world record on Sunday (8), in Chicago, with a time of 2:00:35. He surpasses compatriot Eliud Kipchoge’s previous mark by more than 30 seconds.
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“I am really happy. I wasn’t prepared. A world record wasn’t on my mind today”, said Kiptum, who beat the time of two-time Olympic champion Kipchoge, who is 2:01:09 in the marathon.
Kiptum was champion in Chicago 3:27 ahead of compatriot Benson Kipruto, while Belgian Bashir Abdi finished third in 2:04:32.
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As such, this was only the third marathon Kiptum had run in his life. When he was at kilometer 35 of the 42km race, the Kenyan said he felt he could break the 2-hour mark.
“I saw the time in front of me and said: let me try, maybe I can run under two hours. I knew that one day I would be a world record holder,” he said.
As a result, in his marathon debut last year, Kiptum ran the race in Valencia, Spain, in 2h01min53, the third best time in history. This year, at the London Marathon, he finished in 2:01:25, second best of all time. Now, Kiptum is the best in history.
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