FACTBOX-Athletics-Factbox on Eliud Kipchoge

Factbox on Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge who on Saturday became the first person to run a marathon in under two hours.

EARLY LIFE *Born Nov. 5, 1984, in Kapsisiywa, Nandi District of Kenya. He met his trainer Patrick Sang, a former Olympic medallist in the steeplechase, in 2001 at the age of 16. In 2002, he finished fifth in the World Cross Country Championships individual junior race in Dublin and was part of the Kenyan team that won gold. *Set a world junior record in 5,000 meters at the 2003 Bislett Games.

TRACK CAREER *Kipchoge won a flurry of medals over 5,000m -- gold at the 2003 world championships in Paris, bronze at the 2004 Athens Olympics, silver at the 2007 world championships in Osaka and silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. MOVE TO ROAD EVENTS Made his half-marathon debut at the 2012 Lille Half Marathon, where he came third. His time of 59:25 was the second-fastest half-marathon debut behind Moses Mosop’s 59:20 in Milan in 2010. *Opened the 2013 season with a win at the Barcelona Half Marathon before making a smooth transition to full marathons by taking the Hamburg title in April.

Raced in the 2013 Berlin Marathon and finished second in 2:04:05, then the fifth-fastest time in history, in his second marathon. *Won the Berlin title in 2015 even though the insoles of his shoes came loose, causing blistered feet. *Won back-to-back London Marathon titles in 2015 and 2016. His 2016 run broke the course record and was the second-fastest marathon time in history.

Won the marathon gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics in a time of 2:08:44. *In May 2017, Kipchoge attempted the first sub-two-hour assisted marathon on the Monza Formula One racetrack near in Italy. He finished at 2:00:25, a run not recognized by the IAAF. *Won the 2017 Berlin Marathon in rainy conditions, ahead of debutant Guye Adola. *Won the 2018 London Marathon against a field that included four-times Olympic gold medallist Mo Farah and three-times Olympic champion Kenenisa Bekele.

Set a world record for the marathon of 2:01:39 in retaining his Berlin title in Sept. 2018 *Won his fourth London Marathon in 2019 in a time of 2:02:37, the second-fastest marathon of all time. *Ran a marathon in 1:59.40 seconds in Vienna, breaking the two-hour barrier. Was assisted by an electric pace car and 41 pacemakers, who ran in seven-man teams. As in Monza, the mark was not recognized by the sport's governing IAAF.

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