BERLIN—Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge smashed the marathon world record, winning the Berlin race in two hours, one minute and 39 seconds on Sunday.
His feat came as Kevin Mayer set a decathlon world record with a total of 9,126 points in his native France on Sunday, topping a previous best of 9,045 points set by American Ashton Eaton three years ago.
Organizers of the Berlin marathon initially put Kipchoge’s time at two hours, one minute and 40 seconds, but later reduced it by one second.
The 33-year-old broke the previous world record set in Berlin by fellow Kenyan Dennis Kimetto in 2014 by one minute and 18 seconds.
“I lack words to describe this day,” Kipchoge said after becoming the first person to finish a marathon in less than two hours and two minutes.
“They say you miss two times but you can’t miss the third time,” he said, in reference to his two previous failed attempts to break the world record in Berlin.
The Kenyan defended his 2017 title in the German capital, pulling ahead of other runners early on amid perfect conditions. Mild temperatures and little to no wind gave the runners of the 45th Berlin marathon an advantage over last year, when rain slowed the race.
Berlin debutant Amos Kipruto came second in two hours, six minutes and 23 seconds, followed by a third Kenyan, former world-record holder Wilson Kipsang, with two hours, six minutes and 48 seconds.
Shogo Nakamura of Japan narrowly missed setting a new national record with a time of two hours, eight minutes and 16 seconds.
Gladys Cherono won the women’s race in two hours, 18 minutes and 11 seconds, a women’s record for the Berlin marathon. The previous track record was set by Mizuki Noguchi of Japan 13 years ago.
The 35-year-old Kenyan, who has won twice before in Berlin, said she felt confident going into the race but wasn’t sure she would beat favorite Tirunesh Dibaba.
Dibaba came third behind fellow Ethiopian Rutia Aga.
A total of 44,389 runners from 133 countries took part in the race, organizers said.
Image credits: AP Photo/Markus Schreiber