Kenya has always shone at the world Olympics, with its runners, displaying supernatural stamina usually in long distance races. The two world records that were broken this past weekend came as no surprise from a nation that is already known to dominate the Olympics.
Veteran runner Eluid Kipchoge, 34, became the first man in history to complete Saturday’s men’s marathon, in Vienna, in just under two hours. He reached the finish line at a time of 1:59:40 and made the whole of Kenya stand up and celebrate including vice-president William Samoei Ruto who was present at the historic event.
Ruto later tweeted, ‘A blistering 1:59:40! Congratulations @EliudKipchoge for the historic achievement in shattering the sub-two-hour barrier for the marathon; you are arguably the greatest runner of all time.’
The women also held their own with 25-year-old Brigid Kosgei breaking a sixteen year old world record set by Britain’s Paula Radclifffe. The youngster, who reached this milestone in the Chicago women’s marathon on Sunday, proclaimed that the she had the desire to break it again.
