IT WAS a weekend of magnificent marathon running which will live long in the memory. Just one day after her fellow Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge broke the hallowed two-hour barrier, Brigid Kosgei achieved what many considered to be the equivalent feat in women’s marathon running by obliterating Paula Radcliffe’s long-standing world record in Chicago.
Clocking 2:14:04, the 25-year old took 81 seconds off Radcliffe’s outright women’s record of 2:15:25, recorded in London in 2003. No athlete since had managed to come within a minute and a half of that mark but, assisted by male pacemakers as Radcliffe was 16 years before, Kosgei took a significant chunk off the historic time on a chilly but bright morning in Illinois.
“We always knew the time would come when the record would be broken,” said Radcliffe, who was in the Windy City to see her record fall. “When I saw how fast Brigid was running in the first part of the race – if she was able to hold that together, she was always going to beat the time.”
This story is from the October 17, 2019 edition of Athletics Weekly.
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This story is from the October 17, 2019 edition of Athletics Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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