Kosgei shatters Radcliffe’s 16-year mark as Cherono makes it double delight in Chicago
By James Magayi and agencies
No sooner had the dust settled on Eliud Kipchoge’s historic feat of running a marathon under two hours, than another Kenyan brought the country into the limelight.
While Kipchoge became the first man to make sporting history since Rodger Bannister run the mile under four minutes in 1954, Brigid Kosgei became the first woman to set a new marathon record in 16 years when she lowered Paul Radcliffe’s mark to win the Chicago Marathon in 2:14:04 yesterday.
Kosgei’s run came little more than 24 hours after fellow Kenyan Kipchoge became the first man to cover 26.2 miles within two hours, clocking 1:59:40 in Vienna, Austria. Unlike Kipchoge’s performance, though, Kosgei’s mark was set in an official race on a record-eligible course.
Fast pace
Kosgei, who won in Chicago last year in 2:18:35 and improved her Personal Best (PB) to 2:18:20 to win in London earlier this year, set out at a blisteringly fast pace, covering the first 5km in 15:28. Ethiopia’s Ababel Yeshaneh was dragged through the section in a swift 15:36 with Gelete Burka a further 27 seconds in arrears.
Her pace dropped slightly after that initial enthusiasm but the 25-year-old settled into regular 16-minute splits for each five-kilometre segment. She went through 10km in 31:28, 2:12:26 marathon pace, and 15km in 47:26. At that point she was almost a minute ahead of Yeshaneh, who herself was on schedule for a 2:16:00 finish at that point.
Kosgei’s half-way split of 1:06:59 suggested a finishing time of about 2:14:00. Fewer than five kilometres later, her lead over Yeshaneh had grown to two minutes, reaching 25km in 1:19:33. As she continued to run behind two male pacemakers, Kosgei added another minute to her lead thanks to a 15:45 split between 25km and 30km.
Relatively comfortable
Another sub-16-minute five-kilometre segment followed, this time 15:56, and her 35km split (1:51:14) still indicated a finishing time about a minute inside Radcliffe’s world record of 2:15:25, set 16 years ago. Given the speed she was going and how far into the race she was, she looked relatively comfortable too.
Nearly four-and-a-half minutes behind, Yeshaneh had a 33-second margin over Burka but both women were also on course for a personal best.
The race, though, was all about Kosgei’s world record attempt and she showed no signs of fading in the closing stages. The pace makers peeled away before the final two miles as Kosgei forged on alone.
With about 20 seconds left of running, she couldn’t help but smile as she realised the magnitude of what she was about to achieve. Moments later, she crossed the line in 2:14:04 to take 81 seconds off the longest-standing marathon world record, men’s or women’s, in the post-war era.
“I’m happy and I feel good,” said Kosgei. “I ran here last year so I knew it was a good course. There was a little bit of wind but it was okay. People were cheering all along the course, which gave me more energy.”
“We always knew the time would come when the record would be broken,” said Radcliffe, who was in Chicago and congratulated Kosgei when she finished.
“I’ve always said 17 is my lucky number and it was exactly 17 years ago to the day that I set my first world record here in Chicago.”
Lawrence Cherono, winner of this year’s Boston Marathon, won a close men’s contest in 2:05:45. Ethiopians Dejene Debela (2:05:46) and Asefa Mengstu (2:05:48) too second and third positions respectively.
Additional information from IAAF.
