The Moment of Truth for Eliud Kipchoge in Boston

The Kenyan, who only won predominantly flat races, will face for the first time the ups and downs of the most traditional marathon in the world

Eliud Kipchoge will debut at the Boston Marathon on Monday, the 17th.

The best marathon runner in history will face an unprecedented challenge in his career next Monday (17). Newcomer to the Boston Marathon, Eliud Kipchoge needs to show that she is also capable of winning a marathon with ups and downs.

Owner of incredible marks in the 42km, the Kenyan made his fame and glory in predominantly flat races. There are 17 marathons disputed with 15 victories, two world records and two Olympic gold medals.

Kipchoge, 38, will tackle the marathon that has the biggest variation in altitude between start and finish. The runners start from Hopkinton, 149 meters above sea level, and end at Boylston Street in Boston, 3 meters above sea level. For this reason, the route, which passes through eight cities and towns, is not valid for obtaining a world record.

This is Kipchoge’s tenth year as a marathon runner. Before migrating to asphalt, the Kenyan’s main result on the tracks was first place in the 5,000m at the Paris World Cup in 2003. His marathon debut was in Hamburg, in 2013, when he won with a time of 2:05:30. Since then, there have been four titles in Berlin (2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022), four in London (2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019), two Olympics (Rio-2016 and Tokyo-2020), Chicago (2014), Rotterdam (2014 ), NN Mision (2021) and Tokyo (2022).

All of Kipchoge’s victories…

… and when he wasn’t the best

In addition to the ups and downs, another feature of Boston is that it does not have rabbits or pacers and the temperature plays tricks on the corridors, with hot years and very cold others. But that, of course, doesn’t intimidate Kipchoge. He has already said that he is confident that he will be able to handle any kind of race: slow and tactical or as a time chaser. The Kenyan will arrive early in the city to explore some of the climbs along the route, such as Newton Hills. “This will give me more peace,” he commented.

The world record holder, who still has the biggest dream of being the first human being to run an official marathon under 2 hours, doesn’t care if he doesn’t make an exceptional time in Boston. “I can run a beautiful race. Beautiful doesn’t mean you run very fast. Beautiful doesn’t mean you break a world record. Beautiful means you have fun and make your fans happy,” he told Runner’s World.

The victory in the 127th edition of the oldest marathon in the world could earn the Kenyan, for all his prestige, more than the US$ 150,000 normally given to the champion because if he is on top of the podium on Monday, he will only need to win the New York Marathon at the end of the year to close out the Majors circuit in an unprecedented way, something he has already made clear that he wants to be the first athlete to do so.

For 2024, Kipchoge aims to be in the Paris Olympics marathon to be the first three-time champion in history. Currently, he shares the gallery of two-time champions with the Ethiopian Abebe Bikila, who won, barefoot, Rome-1960 (2:15:16) and Tokyo-1964 (2:12:11), and the German Waldemar Cierpinski, champion in Montreal -1976 (2:09:55) and Moscow-1980 (2:11:03).

Realize that the mission of the Kenyan is to leave a legacy that is virtually impossible to match. Who lives will see.

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