However, this endless track record hides a path strewn with pitfalls. Kenenisa Bekele during his first marathon, that of Paris in 2014, which he won in 2 hours 5 minutes and 4 seconds. Bekele also won several prestigious victories in Berlin, in 20. His passage from the track to the asphalt? The Ethiopian won in his first marathon, in Paris, in 2014, even signing the new record for the Parisian event, in 2 hours 5 minutes and 2 seconds – beaten since by the Kenyan Elisha Rotich in 2021 (2 hours 4 minutes and 21 seconds). That same year, he became the first athlete to be world champion on track, cross country and indoor. A view – even partial – of her record allows us to measure her domination at the time: four world champion titles out of 10 000 m in a row (including a double with the 5,000 m in 2009, a first), three Olympic gold medals (with another double in 2008), five double cross short (4 kilometres) – cross long (12 kilometer ) at the world championships from 2002 to 2006. If there is debate, it is because Kenenisa Bekele crushed the competition in the 2000s. Read also Can Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge run a marathon in less than two hours?
Jean-François Pontier, specialist marathon coach, is more nuanced: “His track and cross track record is second to none, but no other athlete has matched Kipchoge’s marathon performance. Before facing him at the world championships in 2011, Britain’s Mo Farah admitted he was “just of another caliber”. “You cannot compare Kenenisa with anyone in the past, present and probably the future”, told the American site LetsRun, in 2016, Renato Canova, trainer who collaborated with these two cracks. If Eliud Kipchoge is imperial on the queen discipline and its 42.195 kilometers, some purists of long-distance running consider that his Ethiopian rival is, on the whole of his career, more impressive. In his absence, Kenenisa Bekele, 40, can hope to attract all the light. Sunday October 2, the 37-year-old runner is not likely to eclipse the competition again since he has decided not to start the London Marathon. Once again, there was no shortage of superlatives to salute his exceptional performance. On Sunday September 25, the Kenyan completed the Berlin Marathon in 2 hours 1 minute and 9 seconds, flying of 30 seconds his own world record, established in 2018, already in Germany. Once again, Eliud Kipchoge has amazed everyone. PICTURE ALLIANCE / DPA/PICTURE ALLIANCE VIA GETTY I Kenenisa Bekele, at the Berlin Marathon, September 29, 2019.
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