How fast was Kelvin Kiptum’s world record vs. Eliud Kipchoge’s Berlin Marathon run?
In the 2023 Chicago Marathon, Kiptum’s average pace was around 2:51 min/km compared to Kipchoge’s pace of 2:52 min/km at the Berlin Marathon in 2022.
He started the race with a first five-kilometre time of 14:26, which was 12 seconds slower than Kipchoge ran at the equivalent point of the race in Berlin (14:14).
Kipchoge passed through the 10km mark in a time of 28:23, comparing favourably to Kiptum’s own time of 28:42. At the 20km mark, Kipchoge had a time of 56:45 compared to Kiptum’s 57:39.
However, even though he has only enjoyed a short career to date, Kiptum has become well known for his ability to post negative splits, running the second half of a marathon faster than the first.
By the 30th kilometre, Kiptum’s times began to separate from Kipchoge’s as he completed the previous split in 14:27 compared to the former marathon world record holder’s 14:32.
But it was what happened next that really set the tone for this new world record.
A five-kilometre split of 13:51 between kilometres 30 and 35 was a full 39 seconds faster than Kipchoge’s at the same stage of the race, albeit on different courses. Another rapid split followed, with Kiptum reaching the 40th kilometre with a 5km split of 14:01. Kipchoge’s split at the same time was 14:43.
With a final burst of speed, Kiptum closed the last 2.195km of the race with a time of 6:12, four seconds faster than Kipchoge’s equivalent.
In the end, while consistency was key to Kipchoge’s 2022 world record, the ability to run faster than ever in the closing stages of the Chicago Marathon proved key to Kiptum’s incredible world record.

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