The eyes of the running world will be on London on Sunday, with anticipation rising of a first-ever sub-two-hour marathon in a race proper.
The current men’s world record is 2:00:35, set by the late Kelvin Kiptum in Chicago in 2023.
But the prospect of a stellar field – including Jacob Kiplimo making his 26.2-mile debut after shattering the half marathon world record in Barcelona – and ideal-sounding conditions on a fast course in London have upped expectations.
And all the while of course the super shoe technology continues to move at a rapid rate. But Eliud Kipchoge, the only human to go under two hours for the marathon as part of the tech-driven Ineos ‘1:59 project’ says there’s much more to “running very fast” than super shoes.
Shoes are raising the bar
The greatest men’s marathon runner of all time welcomes the advances but speaking at the elite press conference ahead of Sunday’s race, Kipchoge said: “The world is changing very fast, what rules the world is technology, you cannot run away from technology in our lives.
“When the shoes came in, we had to move with the shoes.
“In sport technology has given us a higher bar but not really to run very fast. For recovery, the lightness of the shoe and above all to enjoy running.
“But the fact that people think technology shoes can make people run very fast, if you are not fit enough, you cannot run very fast.”
The Kenyan legend continued: “First is the fitness, if you are physically fit and mentally fit, then technology can run with you. But if you are not, there is no way technology can push you.
“We need to love technology, we need to move with technology, run with it and sleep with it and do all things with it. This is the world.”
Kiplimo running his own race
But onto Kiplimo and he couldn’t have demonstrated his form and fitness any better in Barcelona earlier this year when he took a mind-blowing 48 seconds off the half marathon record with his time of 56:42.
He was keen to keep a lid on expectations for Sunday though, pointing out that 26.2 miles is much, much more of a challenge than a half.
He said: “I am so grateful to be here for this year’s London Marathon. It will present a lot of challenges because the half marathon is not like the full marathon, but I have prepared myself well and hope on Sunday to do my best.
“I just want to run my own race, so that I can run my personal best.”
