Kipchoge, 41, wins in Melbourne with a course record
It is the Kenyan's first marathon victory since Berlin in 2023, and the high point so far of his attempt to run one on every continent.
Nairobi — Eliud Kipchoge has won the Melbourne Marathon in a course record of 2 hours 9 minutes 10 seconds, his first marathon victory in three years, Capital FM reports.
The 41-year-old Kenyan, twice Olympic champion, had not won over the distance since the Berlin Marathon in 2023.
A tour of the continents
Melbourne is part of a world tour on which Kipchoge is trying to run a marathon on every continent. The earlier legs had been less kind to him:
- Cape Town, his first marathon on African soil: 16th in 2:13:29.
- Porto Alegre, Brazil, on 12 July: 12th in 2:18:42.
His Melbourne time was more than nine minutes quicker than his run in Brazil.
What it means
The record is for the Melbourne course, not a personal best. Kipchoge's fastest marathon, the 2:01:09 he ran in Berlin in 2022, stood as the world record until 2023. But a win at 41, after two finishes outside the top ten, is a reminder of why the tour draws crowds wherever it stops.
This report is based on reporting by Capital FM, via AllAfrica.
