Learn from Kipchoge

What you need to know:

  • Coming at a time when Kenya is struggling to deal with the doping menace, Kipchoge's performances should serve as a lesson to local athletes that hard work and determination yield success.
  • Kipchoge has been consistent. Since winning the world 5,000 metres title in 2003 in Paris, he has won 15 of the 17 marathons he has competed in, including races at the 2016 and 2020 editions of the Olympic Games.
  • We would like to congratulate Kipchoge for his victory, which has not only cemented Kenya’s prowess in distance races but also is a huge inspiration to every sportsman or woman in the world, now and in the future.

Coming at a time when Kenya is struggling to deal with the doping menace, performances by two-time Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge should serve as a lesson to local athletes that hard work and determination yield success.

Yesterday, Kipchoge affirmed his status as one of the greatest marathoners in history when he lowered his own world marathon record by 30 seconds in winning in Berlin Marathon.

The 37-year-old treated his fans to an awe-inspiring performance on the streets of the German capital city to win the Berlin Marathon men’s race in two hours, one minute and nine seconds, shattering his previous record of 2:01:39, which he set in 2018 on the same course.

Not only did Kipchoge claim a fourth victory in Berlin after his exploits in 2015, 2017 and 2018 but he has also made history in many ways.

He now joins the league of legendary British runner Jim Peters, Australian athlete Derek Clayton, Moroccan-born Khalid Khannouchi of the United States of America and Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia as the few athletes to have broken their own world records in the marathon.

We would like to congratulate Kipchoge for his victory, which has not only cemented Kenya’s prowess in distance races but also is a huge inspiration to every sportsman or woman in the world, now and in the future.

Kipchoge has been consistent. Since winning the world 5,000 metres title in 2003 in Paris, he has won 15 of the 17 marathons he has competed in, including races at the 2016 and 2020 editions of the Olympic Games. This is commendable. 

Although it did not count for a world record, Kipchoge’s feat of becoming the first person to run the marathon under two hours at the 2019 INEOS 1:59 Challenge, which he did in 1:59:40 in Vienna, Austria, showed the world that no human is limited.

Coming at a time when cases of doping cases are on the increase in Kenya, as elsewhere, Kipchoge’s success should serve as a reminder to local athletes that hard work and consistency are often rewarded and there is no place for shortcuts in athletics in particular and life in general.