Fastest ever marathon time: How fast is Eliud Kipchoge's world record ahead of Tokyo Olympics?

ByDan Gibbs

Published 06/08/2021 at 22:40 GMT

Eliud Kipchoge is one of the greatest ever marathon runners but how will he cope with the heat in Tokyo? The women's race has already been brought forward due to the heat and the conditions make for an unpredictable outcome, even for the very best. You want it? We have it. Stream every Olympic event live on discovery+

The end of the Olympics is drawing near which means it's almost time for the marathon events with the 26.2mile races usually held on the final days of the Games.

This year is no different with the women's race taking place at 22:00 BST on August 6, while the men's begins just over 24 hours later at 23:00 BST on August 7.

With high temperatures and an uncomfortable humidity causing concern for athletes, the women's race has been brought forward an hour to start at 6am local time.

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The tricky running conditions mean both races could be slower than usual and it will need something extra special for a new world record to be broken.

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What is the fastest ever marathon time?

The current official world record stands at 2:01:39 with Kenyan runner Eliud Kipchoge clocking the time at the Berlin Marathon in 2018.

Kipchoge, who is hoping to become only the third man to successfully defend their Olympic marathon title, has run a marathon in less than two hours though.

In October 2019, Kipchoge became the first athlete to run a marathon under two hours in a time of 1:59:40 in Austria.

However, it was not recognised as the official marathon world record because it was not in open competition and he used a team of rotating pacemakers to help him.

Eliud Kipchoge became the first athlete to run a maraton in under two hours

Image credit: Getty Images

The official world record for the women's marathon is held by Kenya's Brigid Kosgei who ran 2:14:04 in the 2019 Chicago Marathon.

How to watch the marathon at the Tokyo Olympics

There's set to be over 3,500 hours of action throughout the 17 days of competition and discovery+’s live event feeds are on hand to bring you all the action this summer.

To be able to watch every minute of the action, fans can subscribe to discovery+‘s Entertainment & Sport annual pass for just £29.99 or alternatively purchase a monthly subscription at a cost of £6.99 a month.

The pass will allow access to 55+ live event feeds, including Eurosport 1 and 2 as well as Eurosport pop-up channels 3-9.

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Watch every unmissable moment live from Tokyo 2020 across Eurosport, Eurosport app and discovery+. Download the Eurosport app for iOS and Android now.

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