Monaco, Feb 7 (IANS): World Athletics, the global governing body for international track and field competitions, has ratified Kelvin Kiptum’s world marathon record of 2:00:35 set in Chicago last year. Kenya’s Kiptum became the first athlete to break 2:01 in a record-eligible marathon, taking 34 seconds off the world record at the Chicago Marathon on October 8, 2023, the World Athletics informed in a statement on Tuesday.

With that performance, Kiptum improved his Personal Best by 50 seconds to surpass the world record of 2:01:09 set by his compatriot Eliud Kipchoge in Berlin on September 25, 2022. Kiptum pushed the pace throughout the race in Chicago. He broke away from a seven-strong lead group after reaching 5km in 14:26, joined by his compatriot Daniel Mateiko. They were on world record pace at 10km and passed in 28:42, but the tempo dropped a little and they reached halfway in 1:00:48.

After 30km was passed in 1:26:31, Kiptum kicked and dropped Mateiko. A blistering 5km split of 13:51 took him to the 35km checkpoint in 1:40:22 and he was on sub-2:01 pace, 49 seconds ahead of Mateiko. Continuing to run with urgency, Kiptum passed 40km in 1:54:23 -– after a 27:52 10km split. He went on to win the race by almost three and a half minutes, crossing the finish line at 2:00:35.

“I knew I was coming for a course record, but a world record -– I am so happy,” he said. “A world record was not on my mind today, but I knew one day I would be a world record-holder.”