How the Two-Hour Marathon Limit Was Broken | WIRED

On Saturday, October 12, 2019, Eliud Kipchoge became the first person ever to run a marathon in under two hours, a staggering achievement in athletics and human performance. Dr. Michael Joyner, an exercise physiologist at the Mayo Clinic, first predicted it might be possible in a paper he wrote in 1991. WIRED's Robbie Gonzalez has been following Kipchoge's attempts for years, and spoke with Joyner about how Kipchoge finally made it happen.

Check out WIRED’s previous coverage of Kipchoge’s quest to break the two hour barrier:






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Follow more of Robbie’s reporting on Eliud Kipchoge at WIRED.com:

[jamiehay]

Dude looks like he's doing a light morning jog.

[MrVvulf]

I'm so happy that Eliud Kipchoge was the first athlete to break the 2hr mark.
The sport of long distance running couldn't ask for a better ambassador than Eliud - hard working, soft spoken, humble, kind, enthusiastic, nurturing of his teammates and youth, and optimistic in his views on the human condition.

[Soh]

Why are the shoes controversial? If you give me those shoes I’m still not running a sub 2 hour marathon lol.

[izzyk]

If the shoes are an issue, just give them to everyone, let's see them do sub 2 hours.

[soyamilk]

The start puts into perspective how fast he’s running

[irfanyusni]

Dinner in 2 hours

Kipchoge: let me run a marathon real quick

[kemni]

He even runs to celebrate after he's finished. *Legend*

[tyronebiggums]

Me: Ran a half marathon in under 2 hours on Saturday.


Eliud: Hold my beer.

[FedRoger]

There’s no controversy. Stop making things what they’re not. It was an experiment to break human barriers, by creating ideal situations.

[tiagomarques]

Months before: “Why it’s impossible to run a sub-2 hour marathon”

[anthonyescareno]

I wouldn’t refer to the shoes as “controversial” when no one has argued he shouldn’t be running in these types of shoes or a record should be considered illegitimate because he has in these shoes. Further, many other shoe companies are making similar shoes.

[playboifartie]

Can we take a moment to appreciate the pacers who also had to run at the same speed for long periods of time

[gabrieladossantos]

Your mind will give up 1000 times before your body does

[AgentMCCityDE]

He started with a speed I can't even keep up for 5 minutes

[sophiayun]

To think he ran almost 2.5 miles in the time this video lasted... crazy

[owenconway]

When I saw this I was like HA it is possible wired

[_shubham_kumar]

Fans:
Experts:
Media: It's controversial

[kptm]

I hate focusing on controvercies concering Eliud’s run. He has made a history and thats what we all should focus on. Hopefully he achieves the same time next year during the berlin marathon.

[padentuel]

The fact that he was in any way talking immediately after this is insane