Kenyan athlete Eliud Kipchoge Sunday smashed his world record after winning the Berlin marathon. Pakistani athletes, too, participated in the marathon and qualified for the Boston Marathon 2024.
Eliud Kipchoge lit up an overcast morning in the German capital, lowering his old mark by half a minute with a new best time of 2hr 01min 9sec.
He told the post-race press conference “you will see” what will come next, but hinted Berlin had not seen the last of him.
“I am African and in Africa, we believe you chase one rabbit at a time,” a smiling Kipchoge said.
“So the rabbit we chased as a team was the Berlin Marathon 2022.”
At the halfway point passed at 59:51, the back-to-back Olympic champion in Rio and Tokyo looked set to become the first to officially run under the elusive two-hour mark.
But despite slowing slightly, Kipchoge held on to beat his record of 2:01:39 from Berlin in 2018.
Meanwhile, Pakistani athletes Faysal Shafi, Salman Khan and Nausherwan also participated in the marathon in the 40 years age group category, while Danish Elahi and Ali Khurshid took part in the 35 years age category.
From Pakistan, Faysal Shafi qualified for Boston Marathon 2024 after crossing the finish line in three hours, six minutes and seven seconds.
Good luck to everyone running the @berlinmarathon tomorrow! ⭐️
📸: @WMMajors pic.twitter.com/HxXVQlDaWz
— Boston Marathon (@bostonmarathon) September 24, 2022