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With around 12 kilometers of the race remaining, Kipchoge moved away from the leading pack to cross the finish line in a time of two hours, eight minutes and 38 seconds – more than a minute ahead of Dutchman Abdi Nageeye in second position and Belgian Bashir Abdi in third.
Kipchoge’s victory completed a marathon double for Kenya after Peres Jepchirchir’s gold medal in the women’s race the day before. He also follows in the footsteps of Ethiopian Abebe Bikila and East German Waldemar Cierpinski as consecutive Olympic marathon champion.
“I wanted to create a space (between the other runners) to show the world that it’s a great race,” Kipchoge, 36, said later. “I wanted to show that we have hope for the future.”
The marathon and walking events were moved 500 miles north of Tokyo to Sapporo in an effort to escape the heat of the Japanese capital, but runners still struggled with harsh conditions with temperatures approaching 30 degrees Celsius and humidity levels of 80%.
Of the 106 riders who took the start, 30 did not finish.
“We were all on the same frying pan and it’s competition,” Kipchoge said in hot weather – this after running the five kilometers between the 30-35 km markers in 14:28 to get away from the field and establish an unassailable trail.
A second marathon gold medal solidifies Kipchoge’s status as the all-time greatest 26.2 mile runner, adding to a resume that includes the 2018 world record of 2:01:39 and running the very first sub-marathon, albeit under unofficial circumstances, as part of the INEOS 1:59 Challenge in 2019.
Kipchoge has now won 13 of the 15 major marathons he has competed in since running the distance in 2013.
“Eliud Kipchoge is the greatest of all time … in ALL sports,” performance coach and author Steve Magness wrote on Twitter. “His dominance in a major modern sport is unprecedented.”
Silver medalist Nageeye finished in 2:09:58, two seconds ahead of his training partner Abdi, whom he encouraged to cross the finish line in the sprint with Lawrence Cherono, fourth.
“I’ve said so many times that I wanted a top three, but I never did. So today I was just focusing. Focus, focus, focus,” Nageeye said. .
“When I hit 39 km I knew (I would win a medal). I felt really easy with 3 km to go. I knew I only had nine minutes to run. It’s amazing.”
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