Kipchoge reveals 1:59 Challenge as best moment of career, opens up on secret to longevity

Kenya’s celebrated double Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge has revealed the INEOS 1:59 Challenge that took place in Vienna, Austria back in 2019 as the best moment of his glittering career as an athlete since he started running.

Making the revelation, Kipchoge, who is fresh from breaking his own marathon World Record in Berlin last month where he lowered the time by thirty seconds to 2:01.09, stated that the manner in which he made history as the first person to ever complete a marathon in under two hours is what pushed the event to being the best of his career.

Although the effort did not count as an official new world record under the rules due to the setup of the challenge, Kipchoge took pride in being the only person who has ever dared to complete such a milestone.

“INEOS 1:59 challenge is critical to my heart. Reason is that I made history. Records are there to be broken. Tomorrow, somebody else can break the World Record but I do not think somebody can dare to try and run under two hours.

Kipchoge smashes World Marathon record

But even if other people will run under two hours, I am still happy that I was the first person to run under two hours so that history will always be there,” the athlete said in an interview on NTV's Sport On.

Additionally, the legendary runner also revealed the secret to what has seen him consistently stay at the top of his game since breaking into the limelight back in 2002 in a span that has seen him win fifteen out of his last seventeen marathon races.

The 37-year -old shunned athletes from focusing too much on the monetary side which kills the pure love for the sport which in turn affects their longevity in the game.

He also urged athletes to focus on setting up good systems to ensure achieving success does not become a one time stroke of luck.

"Athletes should actually think on preparation and planning and they should not put money on their minds. The moment you put money on your mind, that is the when your longevity will be cut off. And most of them have done that and that is why they have never gone as long as they think they will go.

Above all, they should treat sport as a profession. When they realize that running is a real career, they can go for a long time. It is like any job you are doing. The moment you respect the job and build that career then you will go for long," he said.

"It is always good to have goals but that is not as important as having good systems. Goals only solve problems temporarily," he noted.

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