NAIROBI, Oct. 12 -- Sport is about pushing one's body beyond the limit and on Saturday, Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge stepped out to prove to the human race that man is not limited in his INEOS 1:59 Challenge.
Kipchoge wrote history in Vienna as the first human to clock a sub two hours marathon. Every detail greatly planned and fulfilled. His time of 1:59:40.2 affirms that with determination, hard work and focus, man can attain any goal he sets out to achieve.
Kipchoge ran a consistent pace set by the electric timing car and the pacemakers of 2:50 minutes per kilometer throughout the race with every single kilometer split being between 2:48min/km - 2:52min/km.
With the noise levels rising, Kipchoge crossed the line in a history-making time of 1:59:40.2 to become the first human to break the two-hour barrier for the marathon.
Kipchoge's incredible achievement emphatically proved his mantra that no human is limited and places him alongside other sporting greats such as Sir Roger Bannister - who ran the first sub-four-minute mile in 1954 - and Usain Bolt who's 100m world record of 9.58 seconds has stood since 2009.
"It is a great feeling to make history in the sport after Sir Roger Bannister in 1954. I am the happiest man in the world to be the first human to run under two hours and I can tell people that no human is limited. I expect more people all over the world to run under two hours after today," said Kipchoge on Saturday.
"The pacemakers did a great job, they are among the best runners of all time. I thank them and appreciate them for accepting the job. I wanted to run under two hours and show human beings can do a good job and lead a good life. It shows the positivity of sport. I want to make the sport an interesting sport whereby all human beings can run and together we can make this world a beautiful world."
Jim Ratcliffe, chairman of INEOS said: "That was sensational. It is quite difficult to believe it's actually happened because it happened so quickly. That last kilometer where he actually accelerated and came through on his own was just superhuman. I can't believe he did it. I can't believe he ran the first half marathon in less than an hour and then he had to do that again."
Five-time Olympian Bernard Lagat said: "Eliud told the world that if you set your mind to something nothing is impossible. This is a special day today. Looking at the 1:59:40 time I got so emotional. He worked so hard for it and inspired us. It is something special, really special. The crowd was insane, I've never experienced anything like it, they were 100 percent into it. Eliud proved no human was limited and he did it."
Pacemaker Lopez Lomong said: "It means the world to me. Eliud said we needed to be able to come to the moon and back and we did today. This was a momentous day. The whole world will be watching with many people putting their shoes on thinking about breaking two hours.