He is now the pride of Kenya. He has successfully put the country on the global map. Currently, one cannot talk about marathon racing without mentioning Kenya, or rather, without mentioning Eliud Kipchoge.
The 34-year-old has proved that he was born to run marathons and shatter world records. Kipchoge has emerged victorious in 11 of all the 12 marathons he has participated in.
The glory that Eliud Kipchoge has brought back to the country is unmatched. Kipchoge has been running long distance for a while now but his name started frequenting out of Kenyan’s mouths when he shattered the World record in Berlin last year.
The new world record opened doors for Kipchoge as he has been doing nothing but scoop awards. International and local awards.
First, Eliud was crowned the IAAF male athlete of the year for the year 2019. After the glorious international award, Eliud scooped the Sports Personality of the year at the Safaricom SOYA awards in Mombasa Kenya.
What came next for Kipchoge was a win from nomination. Kipchoge was nominated alongside great Sportsmen in the world for the Laureus Sportsman of the Year award. Confirming his stature as one of the most recognized sportsmen in the world. The Olympic champion was nominated alongside the likes of Luka Modric, Novak Djokovic, LeBron James, and Kylian Mbappe.
or Kipchoge and Kenyans, the nomination was enough because of the big names that were Kipchoge’s competitors. He may not have won the award he was nominated for but Kipchoge did not leave the Laureus award dinner empty-handed. He was feted the exceptional achievement award at the dinner.
His most recent victory being 2019’s London marathon, a race whose build-up centrally focused on Mo Farah as most people’s favourite in the race. Kipchoge finished the race in 2 hours, 02 minutes and 37 seconds which saw him break his own course record time of 2:03:05 set with victory in 2016.
Mo Farah was tipped to finish ahead of the Olympic marathon champion by many because London is his home city. Athletes are greatly motivated when running on home turf. For Kipchoge, however, it does not matter whether you are running on home turf or not, he is here to shatter World records.
Britain’s Mo Farah’s build-up to race day was overshadowed by an extraordinary row with distance great Haile Gebrselassie over an alleged robbery in the hotel owned by the retired Ethiopian. The homeboy could not cope with the pace as he finished fifth.
The ladies also gave Kenyans a reason to bang on their chests as they topped the race with 1st and 2nd positions going to Kenya. Brigid Kosgei was the winner of the marathon finishing at 2:11:19. Defending London marathon champion Vivian Cheruiyot was second with 2:20:14 while Ethiopia’s Roza Dereje completed the podium finish in 2:20:51.
It was an all Kenyan weekend in London as the athletes will return to the country with two gold medals and one silver. These are the true pride of the country.
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