Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 150 May 2022 | Page 38

ROAD RUNNING
Eliud Kipchoge wins a second Olympic Marathon title in Japan in 2021

Catching Up with

Kipchoge

During a recent visit to Cape Town , the world ’ s fastest ever marathon runner , Eliud Kipchoge , sat down for a Zoom interview with journalists from all over the world , to chat about his third nomination in four years for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award and his thoughts on future plans . Here ’ s what he had to say .

Eliud Kipchoge is widely regarded as the greatest marathon runner and one of the greatest sportsmen in history . His fantastic career has seen him win the Olympic Marathon twice ( 2016 and 2021 – just the third man to ever to win this title twice ), as well as a World Champs 5000m title and an Under-20 title at the World Cross Country Champs in his younger days , along with many other medals and finals appearances . He has also claimed the World Marathon Majors wins in London ( four times ), Berlin ( three times ), Chicago and Tokyo , with his 2018 win in Berlin also earning him the current World Record for the marathon of 2:01:39 .

Eliud with his Laureus Exceptional Performance Award in 2019
On 12 October 2019 , Eliud ran the marathon distance at the special Ineos 1:59 Challenge event in Vienna , Austria , achieving a time of 1:59:40 . The run did not count as a new World Record because it did not conform to World Athletics ’ standard competition rules for pacing and supply of fluids , and it was not an open race , but the event caught the world ’ s attention and turned the Kenyan into household name worldwide .
With still more impressive results in 2021 and 2022 , including that second Olympic Marathon win last year and a winning 2:02:40 in the Tokyo Marathon in March this year , Kipchoge was recently nominated for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award , due to be
Signing the Nelson Mandela Wall at the 2019 Laureus Awards
announced at the end of April . He was also nominated in this category in 2019 and 2020 , and also won the Laureus Exceptional Performance Award in 2019 .
Q : Eliud , you ’ re nominated for the Laureus World Sportsman of the year award . What does that nomination mean to you , and how important would it be to you to win the Laureus Award ?
EK : I can say I ’ m really happy to be nominated for the second time , especially after the hardest two years because of COVID , when we ’ ve all had to keep hope , and keep pushing . I think it ’ s really important for me to win the award , to inspire the youth to run .
Images : Getty Images ( courtesy Laureus Foundation ) & courtesy Tokyo Olympics , INEOS 159 Challenge
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