The London marathon should have recently taken place and we should have known the winner of the next duel between world record holder Eliud Kipchoge and the rejuvenated distance legend Kenenisa Bekele. However, we will now have to wait until October, as that is the new date for the 2020 London marathon, following them having to reschedule due to the current coronavirus pandemic. This is something that has caused for endless troubles in the sporting world, with event after event being cancelled or postponed until a later date. That is something that both the European championships and Olympic games have had to do and both will now be taking place in 2021.
This later date for the London marathon was very important, not just for the athletes but for the money generated for the different charities. The anticipation will now continue to build further, ahead of what is expected to be the greatest race of the last decade. The London marathon has now been rescheduled for Sunday 4th of October.
Eliud Kipchoge heads into the race as the favourite, which is little surprise, looking at his remarkable career. Punters have been looking over the latest bookmakers reviews, with many set to offer odds on this upcoming race, with Kipchoge expected to be the odds on favourite. Since the 35 year old moved over to the marathon he has continued to improve and is now without a doubt the greatest over the distance in history. This even included him breaking the two hour barrier in Vienna last year. The Kenyan clocked a remarkable time of 1:59:40, but this will not go down as an official time, due to the set conditions of the race, such as rotating pace-makers. However it showed that it is possible for a human to do it, which was long seen as impossible. He will now be hoping he can do this in an official race, before he retires from the sport.
HISTORY IS MADE! ?
For so long, so many thought it was impossible, but @EliudKipchoge becomes the first human to run a sub two-hour marathon.
#INEOS159 #NoHumanIsLimited pic.twitter.com/ONL9jyPR0n— INEOS 1:59 Challenge (@INEOS159) October 12, 2019
Kipchoge has made 12 starts over the marathon distance, winning 11 of them and only being beaten in the 2013 Berlin marathon on just his second start over the distance. This includes his world record of 2:01:39, when winning the 2018 Berlin marathon. That time appeared to be head and shoulders above anything others runners could achieve, but Bekele returned and produced a career best over the distance to run a 2:01:41 in the 2019 edition of the race. This meant he came within two seconds of the world record and it now sets up for this much anticipated clash of the greatest distance runners in history.
That was Bekele’s third victory over the marathon distance, from his 10 starts. He now appears much improved and over his previous injury issues, that has saw him return recently and smash Mo Farah’s course record in the 2020 London half marathon. This also follows a remarkable career on the track for Bekele, who also still holds the world records for both the 5000m and 10,000m distances.
So can he now upset Kipchoge in October? And could we also see a world record in the process?
