Anything is Possible: Kiptum Breaks Marathon World Record

What's the marathon world record?
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If you asked the question just a few days before the 2023 Chicago Marathon, it was...

• 02:01:09, set by Eliud Kipchoge at the 2022 BMW Berlin Marathon

But something unexpected happened on Oct. 8, 2023 at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon...

• 👟Kelvin Kiptum won the Chicago Marathon and broke the marathon world record
• ⌚The new marathon world record: 02:00:35

It's one of those reminders that anything is possible.
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Here's how Kiptum ticked off 26.2-miles to break the marathon world record...

The Chicago Marathon is one of the 6 major world marathons and draws an estimated 40,000 runners to the starting line, including a long list of elite male and female marathon runners.
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While Kiptum was among the favorites to win the Chicago Marathon, he was up against 9 competitors with a marathon PR of 2:06 or faster:
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Kiptum ran the London Marathon earlier this year, setting a PR of 02:01:25.

🏃‍♂️But top male competitors at the Chicago Marathon also included:

• Bashir Abdi from Belgium: (2:03:36) 
• Benson Kipruto from Kenya: (2:04:24) 
• Dawit Wolde from Ethiopia: (2:04:27) 
• Seifu Tura from Ethiopia: (2:04:29) 
• Daniel Do Nascimento from Brazil: (2:04:51) 
• John Korir from Kenya: (2:05:01) 
• Galen Rupp from the U.S.:(2:06:07) 
• Huseydin Mohamed from Ethiopia: (2:05:05) 
• Milkesa Mengesha from Ethiopia (2:05:29)

🏃‍♀️Top female marathon runners

The female line-up of marathon runners also included eight athletes with a marathon PR under 02:19:00:

• Ruth Chepngetich from Kenya: (2:14:18) 
• Tadu Teshome Nare from Ethiopia: (2:17:36) 
• Joyciline Jepkosgei from Kenya (2:17:43) 
• Genzebe Dibaba from Ethiopia (2:18:05) 
• Sutume Kebede from Ethiopia; (2:18:12) 
• Emily Sisson from the U.S.: (2:18:29) 
• Sifan Hassan from the Netherlands: (2:18:33) 
• Tigist Girma from Ethiopia: 2:18:52)

On your mark...get set...go...
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With cool temps around 45 degrees, no rain in the forecast and light winds, Kiptum kicked off the race in the lead.
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🔥He ran the first 5K of the race in: 14:26.
⌚That's a 4:38-min mile pace

If Kiptum chose to run that opening 5K pace for the rest of the race...

• He was on target to finish the 26.2 miles in 2:01:25...
• Just 14 seconds behind Kipchoge's world record of 02:01:09 set in 2022.

But Kiptum had other plans...
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He reached the 10K mark in 28:42, driving the average mile pace down to a predicted finish of 2:01:06.
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Could he maintain the lead and blazing fast pace?

By the time Kiptum reached the 15K mark, it was clear he wasn't letting up on the pace.
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He pushed the limits all the way to the 13.1 half marathon mark, running the distance in 1:00:48.

• He was still in the lead.
• And he was on track to beat the Chicago Marathon course record of 2:03:45...
• A record that's remained unbroken for 10 years since Dennis Kimetto of Kenya in 2013.

But would the pace be fast enough to win and beat the marathon world record?

Since Kiptum began running professionally in 2018, winning the Eldoret Half Marathon in 1:02:01, he's been perfecting the negative-split strategy.

• What's a negative split? Basically, you run the second half of a race faster than the first half

And that's exactly the strategy Kiptum deployed during the 2023 Chicago Marathon...

• At mile 20, he ran a 4:21 mile split
• At mile 21, he ran a 4:24 mile split
• He dropped the front runners who were with him up until this point
• And he kept hammering towards the finish

Running down the final stretch of the race lined with thousands of spectators in downtown Chicago, Kiptum did the impossible...
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He broke the Chicago Marathon record and set a new marathon world record, finishing in 02:00:35.
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New marathon world record

• 02:00:35 set by Kelvin Kiptum from Keyna at the Chicago Marathon on Oct. 8, 2023.

Kiptum's average pace for 26.2-miles

• 04:35 per mile

 Kiptum's shoes

• Nike Alphafly 3 (prototype)

Kiptum's previous marathons

• 02:01:25. London Marathon on April 23, 2023
• 02:01:53. Valencia Marathon Dec. 4, 2022

Sifan Hassan from the Netherlands ran her debut marathon earlier this year, winning the London Marathon in 2:18:33.
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With six months of training for her second marathon, she showed up to take on the Chicago Marathon.
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Despite going out a little too hard with the lead pack early in the race, she eventually pulled away to win the Chicago Marathon and set a new course record: 02:13:44.
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"I'm so grateful and so happy," Hassan said in a post-race interview. "The last 5 kilometers...it was so painful."

"But when you finish, you want to do it again. It's so amazing to run my second marathon and win again. It's unbelievable."