Marathon great Eliud Kipchoge: ‘Above all, I’m running for humanity’

Eliud Kipchoge knows he has nothing left to prove.

The Kenyan running great dominated marathons like no athlete before him after crossing the line first in his debut race in Hamburg in 2013. Kipchoge has since won 14 more marathons including at back-to-back Olympic Games, twice set a world record in the event, and is still the only person to run 42.195 km in under two hours.

As he passes 40 years of age and his running powers begin to wane, Kipchoge is embarking on an even greater mission – to inspire more people to not only run, but to get themselves to the starting line for the most mentally and physically demanding of events.

View image in fullscreen Kipchoge at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Photograph: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images

Kipchoge is in Sydney to promote the sport that he is “in love with” as much as to run the race, which became the seventh World Marathon Major on Sunday. The Kenyan finished in ninth place.

“I trust that I have nothing to prove,” Kipchoge says. “I’m privileged to still be running at this age. I’m actually more in love with marathons now just to participate and inspire people. Above all, I’m running for humanity, running for hope and telling people to come out and run. I came here to tell Australians to please help me, I will help you to make this country a running nation. And I think we achieved that in Sydney.

“I’m learning that those who are running behind me are the happiest people because they feel it more. They run in a slow way. They learn in a slow way, but they cross the finish line in the happiest way.”

Kipchoge raised the bar in marathons across a decade of dominance but last won a race almost two years ago, in Berlin for a record fifth time.

When he gradually fell off the pace through the second half of the race in Sydney, his popularity and appeal only became more apparent as the bumper crowds saved their biggest cheers for Kipchoge while he followed the leading pack.

View image in fullscreen Kipchoge passes the Sydney Cricket Ground during Sunday’s race. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian

Kipchoge has little interest in discussing his remaining goals around finishing places or times, even while reflecting on his race in Sydney, instead switching focus to the people he wants to encourage to find their own motivations and push their limits.

“In my mind [while running] are the people who could present themselves at the starting line, to get them to sign in and run,” Kipchoge says. “It’s not about running fast. It’s about completing a marathon. It’s about getting that experience.

“A marathon is the only place on Earth where you can experience that running pain. Train hard and know the blood and sweat that it takes. Cross the finish line with tears. Because this is about the real human being going through those pains. The moment you start and finish, you’ll never be the same. You can’t be rewired again. You’ll be a different person.”

View image in fullscreen This year’s Sydney Marathon attracted more than 35,000 runners. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian

Ethiopian Hailemaryam Kiros set a new benchmark for a marathon on Australian soil when crossing the line in Sydney in 2:06:06, with Kipchoge trailing two minutes and 25 seconds behind.

The women’s race was also completed in record time for a marathon in Australia as the Netherlands’ reigning Olympic champion Sifan Hassan finished in 2:18:22.

While the elite men are closing in on the two-hour barrier in official race conditions, Hassan is the next star of long-distance running with a captivating personality and four wins in her six marathons to date.

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Hassan is on a similar trajectory to Kipchoge’s early years racing marathons and he is as excited as any fan while talking about what the Dutch runner – who earlier won Olympic gold in the 5,000m and 10,000m in Tokyo – now means for the sport.

View image in fullscreen Sydney women’s winner Sifan Hassan is ‘the one’, according to Kipchoge. Photograph: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

“Sifan Hassan is the leader of a new generation of athletes who can inspire many people to come in and run fast,” Kipchoge says. “She teaches people to respect the sport, bring competitiveness in the sport, bring beauty, make sure they get all the people to come and watch the sport. She’s the one.”

Mere mortals might be in recovery mode that day after running a marathon. For Kipchoge it is another opportunity to promote the event and the Abbott biowearables and glucose monitors that are among the technologies he uses and says have revolutionised running “100%” since he first raced a marathon 12 years ago.

It is hard to believe that Kipchoge’s last marathon could be on the horizon while he continues to speak so enthusiastically about the event.

View image in fullscreen A portrait of Kipchoge taken in Sydney. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian

His commitment to the cause is obvious as he recalls statistics around the growth of the Sydney marathon which had more than 35,000 runners this year and Kipchoge hopes will expand beyond 50,000 in the coming years.

The New York marathon is the only race in the world major series that Kipchoge is yet to run, and he is adamant that he will “absolutely” return to Sydney to again take on the challenging and hilly terrain that spectators might not appreciate while watching the race cross the Harbour Bridge and finish at the Opera House.

“It’s a special course,” Kipchoge says. “Every world marathon course has its own beauty, its own terrain. But this is a beautiful and unique course. The beauty was about the crowd, the way people cheered on the way, at the beginning, at the finishing line, it was wonderful.

“Above all, those who are running have an understanding, cheering me on, taking photos, and while they are still running. It was touching, it was beautiful. I will remember Sydney.”

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