Eliud Kipchoge will race the Berlin Marathon for the fourth time on Sept. 16, seeking again to challenge the world record on the world’s fastest record-eligible course, according to event organizers.
Kipchoge, a 33-year-old Kenyan Olympic champion, won Berlin in 2015 and 2017 and was second in 2013, his only defeat in 10 career marathons.
Kipchoge’s personal best of 2:03:05, set at the 2016 London Marathon, is eight seconds shy of Dennis Kimetto‘s world record from the 2014 Berlin Marathon.
Kipchoge’s two Berlin wins came in 2:04:00 in 2015 (with his soles flapping out from the back of his shoes) and 2:03:32 last year (in rain and humidity).
Fellow Kenyan Wilson Kipsang, who lowered the world record at the 2013 Berlin Marathon and has run four sub-2:04s, is also in the Berlin field.
As is Eritrean Zersenay Tadese, the half-marathon world-record holder whose marathon personal best is 2:10:41, though he ran 2:06:51 in Nike’s sub-two-hour marathon attempt not run under record-eligible conditions (where Kipchoge famously clocked 2:00:25 last year).
Top U.S. men’s marathoner Galen Rupp already chose his fall marathon, defending his title in Chicago on Oct. 7. Former training partner and four-time Olympic track champion Mo Farah is expected to race either Chicago or New York City on Nov. 4.
The world’s other top marathoner, New York City champion Geoffrey Kamworor, has not announced his fall marathon plan.
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