The strategy that helped Kiptum surpass Kipchoge's record

23-year-old runner Kelvin Kiptum chose a negative split strategy, running the first half slower than the second half, starting to exert energy from the 30km mark to set a record of 2 hours 35 seconds at the 2023 Chicago Marathon.

Kiptum in the moment of winning with a world record achievement at the Chicago Marathon 2023 on October 8. Photo: AFP

Spanish newspaper Marca commented that Kiptum is like a "child" when compared to his senior legend Eliud Kipchoge in the marathon distance.

Kipchoge first ran 42.195 km at the age of 28, at the Hamburg Marathon in April 2013. Five years later, he broke the world record with 2 hours 1 minute 39 seconds at the 2018 Berlin Marathon. The 1984-born runner broke his own record by 30 seconds, when he crossed the finish line first at Berlin 2022 with 2 hours 1 minute 9 seconds, at the age of 38.

Although he came to the marathon earlier, at the age of 22, Kiptum only ran this distance last year. In his first attempt - Valencia Marathon 2022, he shocked everyone by winning with a time of 2 hours 1 minute 53 seconds, thereby becoming the fourth runner to reach sub 2:02 after Eliud Kipchoge (twice at Berlin Marathon) and Kenenisa Bekele (2 hours 1 minute 41 seconds at Berlin Marathon 2019). Kiptum is also the runner with the best debut marathon result in history.

At the 2023 London Marathon, he continued to make waves by improving his PB to win in 2 hours 1 minute 25 seconds, setting a new record for the race and just 16 seconds off Kipchoge's world record. Kiptum completed the half-marathon in 59 minutes 45 seconds - the fastest half-marathon in the marathon.

In his third run, Kiptum continued to improve his PB with 2 hours 35 seconds at the 2023 Chicago Marathon, breaking Kipchoge's record by 34 seconds and becoming the first runner to run a sub2:1 marathon (under 2 hours 1 minute) in an official competition.

Comparing the two records at Berlin 2022 and Chicago 2023, Kipchoge started well and ran faster than his junior in the first 30 km . Specifically, Kipchoge reached the 10 km mark in 28 minutes 23 seconds, the half-distance in 59 minutes 51 seconds and 30 km in 1 hour 25 minutes 40 seconds. Kiptum's splits were 28 minutes 42 seconds, 1 hour 48 seconds and 1 hour 26 minutes 31 seconds respectively.

Compare Kiptum and Kipchoge's times as they set world records in Chicago 2023 and Berlin 2022.

The difference came from km 30 to 35, when Kiptum accelerated and ran this distance in 13 minutes and 51 seconds. That means the Kenyan runner reached a speed of 21.66 km/h with a pace of 2:47 (running 1 km in 2 minutes and 47 seconds). Meanwhile, Kipchoge took 14 minutes and 30 seconds to run from the 30 to 35 km mark at Berlin 2022.

Over the next 5km, Kiptum hit a 2:49 pace and ran for 14 minutes and 1 second, while Kipchoge ran a 2:57 pace and took 14 minutes and 43 seconds. Kiptum hit the 40km mark in 1 hour, 54 minutes and 23 seconds and finished in a record 2 hours and 35 seconds, while Kipchoge hit the 40km mark in 1 hour, 54 minutes and 53 seconds.

Just like when he won the 2023 London Marathon, Kiptum used a negative split strategy in Chicago. On October 8, the Kenyan runner completed the first half in 1 hour 48 seconds, and the second half in 59 minutes 48 seconds. Kiptum ran even faster in London, finishing the second half in 59 minutes 45 seconds.

The graph of times over each 5km segment shows Kipchoge (blue line) running faster for the first 30km and then slowing down for the rest of the race as he set the world record at Berlin 2022, while Kiptum (yellow line) started slower and then accelerated from the 30km mark to break his senior's record.

There is no difference in the technological advantage between the two most recent world records. In Chicago, Kiptum wore Nike's World Athletics-approved NikeDev163, which is the same shoe Kipchoge wore when he set the record at Berlin 2022.

Having improved his PB in all three of his marathons, Kiptum is expected to become the first athlete to run a sub-2 marathon in an official competition as early as 2024. Kipchoge ran a sub-2 marathon when he reached 1 hour 59 minutes 40 seconds in the Ineos 1:59 event in Vienna, Austria in October 2019. However, that achievement was not recognized by World Athletics as a record because the runner born in 1984 competed in controlled conditions, such as no opponents and a rotating team of pacers.

Marca believes that Kiptum will not be able to realize this ambition in 2024, because the marathon event of the Paris Olympics is scheduled to take place on August 10. If he competes in Paris 2024, Kiptum will only have about 50 days to prepare for Berlin - considered the most ideal place to break the record - on September 29. 50 days is considered not enough time for an elite to recover and prepare best for two major tournaments.

Hong Duy

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