He was so fast, he had time to celebrate long before the second-place runner arrived
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
A two-time Olympic champion smashed his own world record in the Berlin marathon yesterday. As NPR's Rob Schmitz reports, the new record inched closer to that elusive two-hour marathon mark.
ROB SCHMITZ, BYLINE: Kenyan runner Eliud Kipchoge cut 30 seconds off his previous world record set on this very same course four years ago. He finished the Berlin marathon in two hours, one minute and 9 seconds.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Eliud Kipchoge is a history maker in Berlin yet again. He has done it.
NIKKI JOHNSTONE: Eliud Kipchoge is, as everybody calls him, the GOAT.
SCHMITZ: Elite runner Nikki Johnstone watched the race and predicts Kipchoge, the greatest of all time, will soon run a marathon in under two hours. In 2019, in fact, he did break the two-hour mark, but it wasn't official because he ran it under laboratory conditions. Johnstone says there's no runner like Kipchoge.
JOHNSTONE: He just looks so relaxed and say it looks fluid. And it's incredible when he gets to the finish. Like, he doesn't collapse or go on his knees or, like - he's not exhausted like we all would - I would collapse. I would be like - I would be done.
SCHMITZ: Not Kipchoge. He crossed the finish line, and he had time to hug his trainer, his friends, pose for photos, celebrate with fans and wave the Kenyan flag as everyone waited and waited for the second place runner to finish four minutes and 49 seconds later. Kipchoge, who's known for his humility and being a man of few words, had this to say after the race to an interviewer.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED INTERVIEWER: How does it feel to have broken the record again?
ELIUD KIPCHOGE: I feel good.
SCHMITZ: Kipchoge elaborated a little when he spoke about yesterday's conditions. The Berlin marathon is one of the world's flattest and fastest courses, and yesterday's weather - dry, cool and 59 degrees - was ideal for a world record.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
KIPCHOGE: Berlin is a place whereby it can give anybody actually a chance to push the limits. I always don't believe in limits. I don't know what the limits are.
SCHMITZ: And not knowing where the limits are could very well help the 37-year-old Kipchoge someday break yesterday's record by one minute and 10 seconds - all that he'll need to run a marathon in under two hours.
Rob Schmitz, NPR News, Berlin.
Copyright © 2022 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.