At 41, Eliud Kipchoge won the Melbourne Marathon on Sunday in a course record of 2:09:10, claiming his 17th career victory over the distance and his first since Berlin 2023.
The Kenyan broke away inside the final ten kilometres. After sharing a metronomic early pace with a debutant who held his shoulder through 27 kilometres, Kipchoge quietly lifted the tempo and the challenge dissolved behind him. He crossed the line a full 85 seconds ahead of Australian Thomas Do Canto, who finished second in 2:10:35.
Entering the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the closing half-lap, Kipchoge slowed to wave at the stands, a gesture that cost him a few seconds. The course, redesigned flatter this year, took runners through Albert Park's Formula One circuit before the stadium finish.
Two seconds, seventeen wins
The mark shaved two seconds off Timothy Ronoh's 2:09:12 from 2022. Kipchoge's victory ended a three-year wait — his last win came at Berlin in 2023, his record fifth title there and 11th at the World Marathon Majors.
He now holds the fifth-fastest marathon in history, a list he once led. His career includes two Olympic golds, at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, and the startling 2:01:39 in Berlin 2018 that took 78 seconds off the world record.
A tour of continents
Melbourne was the third stop on a two-year quest to race a marathon on all seven continents. He launched the campaign in Cape Town in May. "I believe that my body is still peaking," he told reporters afterwards. "I am happy to run with the Gen Zs."
The Melbourne Cricket Ground stands emptied now, but the record he left there belongs to a runner still writing his story, one continent at a time.
