Olympic marathon champion in 2016 and 2020, Eliud Kipchoge is arguably the greatest marathoner in history. He recently broke the world record in Berlin, improving on it by an incredible 30 seconds, to own four out of five fastest marathon times in history.
Having started in 2003 and still going strong, Kipchoge is a global superstar who has perhaps defied the laws of science so many times that he is now a law by himself. And yet he is not satisfied. He is already looking to plan for 2023 to further improve and add to his own legend. He isn’t the best speaker and it needed some push to get him to open up. He spoke to Boria Majumdar about his achievements, what the future is like for him and more. Excerpts:
What we saw in Berlin was spectacular. How do you feel about that?
I’m happy I was able to break the world record and improve on it by a good few seconds. It made me really happy and I’m pleased to be able to do so.
You have been to India as brand ambassador of the Delhi Half Marathon. What was your experience like?
I loved my time in Delhi. People were affable and warm. They knew about my achievements and were respectful. They were keen on taking to the sport and running. I could see there was tremendous interest among people. That’s what you want to see. You want to see your sport spread among the masses. You want them to embrace running, it has a positive impact on society. I could see that in Delhi. There was awareness. People were keen. They wanted to get better and that’s what pleased me a lot.
So, if you get an opportunity to come to India again in the near future will you take up that opportunity?
Absolutely I will. If I can come and make a difference to the sport in India I will absolutely come. If more and more people take to running seeing me there is no better feeling so absolutely I will come if I get an opportunity.