The double gold medallist returns to the German capital for the sixth time and is the favourite to win a fifth Berlin Marathon title. But can he break the world record for the third time in six years? “Berlin is a very good place for me” he says.
Eliud Kipchoge is a man who likes routine.
We know this from his structured training regime that has been at the core of his marathon success.
Even when he fails to meet his goals, the Olympic champion rarely tinkers with his repetitive programme.
His choice to run the Berlin Marathon for the sixth time is therefore very deliberate.
“My aim is to always run a good race,” he told his NN Running team before leaving for the German capital.
“If this race could be translated to anything else, I will appreciate. I am working for it to make sure it’s a good race.”
Obviously, the Kenyan likes the flat course for record reasons.
He’s set two world records in Berlin.
A win on 24 September [2023] would make him the only runner to win the Berlin Marathon five times.
And knowing Kipchoge’s drive and ambition, it would not be a surprise to see him go for the world record and better his own mark of 2:01:09, set at the 2022 Berlin marathon.
He’s expected to face a significant challenge from his teammate Amos Kipruto, the winner of the 2022 London Marathon.
The Olympic Games are special for Kenyan marathon star.
After his surprise world gold in the 5000m in Paris in 2003, Kipchoge dreamt of an Olympic medal at his debut Games in Athens. He managed bronze in the 5000m.
Four years later, in Beijing, he strongly believed he woud win the Olympic title, as he shared in an interview with Olympics.com.
“I was really in shape in Beijing. Even with two laps to go, my mind was telling me, ‘You will be Olympic Champion this year!’” he said of the second place behind Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele in the 5000m final.
The elusive Olympic gold is what pushed him to switch to the marathon after failing to make Kenya’s track Olympic team for London 2012.
Just before his marathon debut at the Olympics, Kipchoge won the 2016 London Marathon for the second year in a row in 2:03:05, a course record, that was just shy of the world record by eight seconds.
And eight years after the disappointment in Beijing, he finally achieved his Olympic dream with gold at Rio 2016.
The most significant achievement though, prior to the Tokyo Olympics, was becoming the first man to unofficially complete the marathon course in under two hours with his race in Vienna in 2019.
Kipchoge returned to London aiming for a fifth title. But it was not to be, as the greatest marathoner in history lost for the first time in seven years, ending a streak of 10 straight marathon wins.
His ‘redemption race’ was the 2021 NN Mission Marathon in Enschede, which he won just before he reached a new career high at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
His dominant performance in Sapporo made him the third man in history to win back-to-back Olympic marathon titles.
Fast-forward to just under a year before another Olympic race,
The four-time London marathon champion finds himself in an almost similar position.
He finished a disappointing sixth at the Boston Marathon in April – a result that forced him to put on hold his quest of winning all six major marathons.
Kipchoge has opted to return to the familiar Berlin course as the ‘perfect preparation’ for the Games. That makes sense as the Olympic Marathon in Paris will also be run on an equally flat course.
“You cannot control yesterday, but you can control what you are doing today and plan for tomorrow,” he said in an apparent reference to his last race in Boston.
“I am a fan of Berlin, but this year I chose the Berlin Marathon specifically for the Olympic Games in Paris and I trust that Berlin is the right place to actually shake the muscles and to have enough time to prepare for Paris.”
Kipchoge captured the Berlin marathon title in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022, and he is the favourite for a fifth win.
He’s only lost once at the Berlin Marathon – in 2013, in only his second marathon ever.
He has not publicly stated it but his pre-race statements point to one thing – he will go for a fast race which would tie in well with his pre-Olympic plans.
“Berlin is a very good place for me. I have won four times with two world records, it’s really sticked in my mind. To have two world records in Berlin is wonderful,” he told his team.
“I have been working together with the team, doing all my training and trusting the process. I am ready to return to my special place, return to Berlin to take on the challenge again,”
Kipchoge set the world record in Berlin in 2018 and 2022, and a third world record would make the 38-year-old arguably the greatest marathon runner in history.
As a back-to-back winner of the Olympic marathon gold, he is all but assured of his place in the Kenyan Olympic team for Paris, but a win will firmly secure his spot in the highly competitive marathon squad that should be named by the Athletics Kenya selectors before the 2024 spring runs.
He’s expected to face a significant challenge from his teammate Amos Kipruto, the winner of the 2022 London Marathon.
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