Eliud Kipchoge First to Run a Marathon in Less Than Two Hours in Unreleased Nikes

Peter Verry

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Two years ago, Nike-backed Eliud Kipchoge attempted to run a marathon in less than two hours in Monza, Italy, but missed the mark by 25 seconds. But today, the famed runner would not be denied of his goal.

Kipchoge became the first person to run a marathon today in less than two hours. He accomplished the feat in Vienna with a time of 1 hour, 59 minutes and 40 seconds.

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After hitting the mark, Kipchoge wrote a heartfelt thank you on Twitter.

“Today we went to the Moon and came back to earth! I am at a loss for words for all the support I have received from all over the world. Thank you to all who gave me the opportunity. Asante,” Kipchoge wrote on the social media platform.

Despite running a marathon in less than two hours, the feat will not be recognized by the International Association of Athletics Federations as a world record. (Multiple reports state it won’t count as a record because of the amount of pacemakers who ran with Kipchoge in alternating groups.)

Ahead of today’s attempt, Nike announced Kipchoge would wear a future edition of its Next% marathon shoe. A current model Next% model, the Nike ZoomX Vaporfly NEXT%, is available to buy now in men’s and women’s sizing via Nike.com with a $250 price tag.

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