Kenyan men’s marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge says he can’t wait to race again, as the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to keep all worldwide sport in limbo.
“I am looking forward to race again, to share the starting line with thousands of runners and run as fast as I can,” said Kipchoge on twitter.
“But the health of the world is always the top priority, so if we come together and follow the directives we can beat this pandemic.”
Kipchoge set the men’s marathon record of 2:01:39 at the Berlin Marathon in 2018, and in October last year became the first man to break two-hours for the 42.2km distance in an unofficial challenge run in Vienna.
Known as the Ineos159 Challenge, Kipchoge with a series of different pacemakers clocked 1:59:40 to become the first person to break two hours for the marathon distance.
Last month, the 35-year-old appeared in a video with BBC Sport, seated in a room with a treadmill.
“I am taking my time after running in the morning to look and go through my journals and training logs,” said Kipchoge.
Referring to a book he was holding, he said: “This is the diary for 2019, whereby I have been writing everything, from January to date. The kilometres covered every day and what I have been doing – like massages and any other detail.
“I normally have a book where I have my own notes – sports notes and everything else. It’s a good time now to go through them all.”
With sport grinding to a halt in March due to Covid-19, Kipchoge urged the public to stay at home to curb the spread of the virus.
“These are interesting times in the world, whereby I and other people as professional athletes and professional sportsmen, we have never encountered this.
“We need to stay at home, stay indoors and keep safe in order for us to protect other people and protect ourselves.”
In partnership with ANA and Sports Leo
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