Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge sets new marathon world record in Berlin

Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge set a new marathon world record in Berlin yesterday, smashing the previous best as he clocked 2 hour 1 minute 39 second.

The 33-year-old Olympic champion, aided by a string of pacemakers through to 25km of the 42.195 km race, took 1 minute 17 second off the previous best set four years ago by Dennis Kimetto.

It was the



largest single improvement on the marathon world record since Derek Clayton improved the mark by 2:23 in 1967.

Acclaimed as the greatest marathon runner of the modern era, Kipchoge has dominated marathon racing since making his debut in Hamburg in 2013. Ethiopian Ruti Aga finished second and her compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba third.