Can Eliud Kipchoge break his marathon world record in Berlin?

Kipchoge world record was set in Berlin in 2018 and he also won the event in 2015 and 2017. A fourth victory in Berlin would equal the achievement of Haile Gebrselassie, who won the race from 2006-09.

Kipchoge, who will turn 38 in November but his goal is to win an unprecedented third Olympic marathon title in Paris in 2024. He did not run in the World Championships this summer in Eugene but his most recent marathon was at the Tokyo Marathon in March where he broke the course record with 2:02:40 – the fourth fastest time in history.

So the question is can he better his own record?

“I want to run a good race, be it a world record, a personal best, I want it to be it a good race,” the Kenyan told journalists on September 17, a week before his fifth Berlin Marathon.

“I don’t think I am going to run under two hours,” he said, making reference to his historic 1:59:40 run on a specially designed course in Vienna where he became the first man to run a sub-2- hour marathon but in conditions which don’t qualify as an official world record.

“I am the best one…I am going to Berlin to run a very good race that will make everybody get inspired and love marathons.”

In numbers:

2:01:39 – Kipchoge’s current world record

80 seconds – That’s the margin Kipchoge breezed the Olympics title by

2:02:40 – Kipchoge’s time at Tokyo (incidentally, the 4th best ever) despite taking a wrong turn!

89% – Projected humidity at 10 am in Berlin on Sunday, considered ideal as moist air is less dense than ordinary air.

61:00 – Kipchoge’s desired halfway neg split. His pacers on Sunday are: 60:52 half marathoner Noah Kipkemboi, 59:31 half marathoner Moses Koech.