The world marathon record holder has promised to prepare well and come back strong in his next race
World Marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge is still motivated to achieve further glory following his disappointing sixth place finish in the Boston Marathon a fortnight ago.
Kipchoge, who was in London to start the 43rd edition of the race, at a course where he has won four titles, has promised a strong comeback once he settles on which race, he will go for next.
The 38-year-old witnessed compatriot Kelvin Kiptum miss his world record by just 16 seconds as he won the London race in 2:01:25, setting a new course record, after becoming the fast man to run a sub-2:02 in the English capital and the two-time Olympic champion says what he witnessed has inspired him to keep pushing.
“Thank you for having me London. I felt inspired to meet with so many runners from around the world. Their energy motivates me for the challenges ahead. I’m heading back to Kenya now to recover and make plans for my next marathon,” Kipchoge said via a Twitter post.
Kipchoge failed in his attempt to add the Boston title to his stellar list of major marathon wins, having been seen as the favourite, despite the fact that he was running on the course for the first time.
Bad weather and a tough course conspired to hinder his ambitions, consigning him to just his third major marathon loss out of 15, as he fought a trace of a headwind and rain that dampened the roads to join the leading pack before falling off to finish in 2:09:23, the slowest marathon time of his career, with compatriot Evans Chebet (2:05:54) retaining his title.
Kipchoge still has a number of major marathons to target this year with Berlin, where he has won four times and set two world records, Chicago where he won in 2014, and New York, where he has never run, the options on the table.
He also has the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary in August, although that looks highly-unlikely given he has snubbed all Worlds events since he moved from track to marathons.
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