London Marathon 2023: All-time great Kenenisa Bekele motivated to succeed by Eliud Kipchoge’s marathon world record
The three-time Olympic gold medallist takes on the 42.195 km distance in London with the world record of 2:01:09 still in his sights. “It’s what motivates me,” says the 40-year-old legend whose marathon glories included coming within two seconds of Kipchoge’s former world best in 2019.
Athletics
When it comes to distance running, there’s one name that many athletics aficionados consider to be the best of all time.
And it’s perhaps not the name you think.
Kenenisa Bekele, who at age 40 will run in the London Marathon on 23 April, was a force of nature on the track during the first decade of the 21st century, obliterating records and leaving a trail of gold medals in his wake.
At the Olympic Games Athens 2004, Bekele won 10,000m gold and silver in the 5000m having barely reached his 20s. Four years later at Beijing 2008 he claimed a memorable double as he came home first in both events.
World records also fell, with his 5000m and 10,000m marks from 2004 and 2005 both untouchable until 2020, despite advances in training techniques and shoe technologies over the pending years.
And that’s without mentioning his five World Championships golds and 11 victories (six 12 km and five 4 km) in the World Cross Country Championships - the most of all time by any athlete.
To put it simply, Bekele is a one-off, as dominant on his day as any distance athlete since record books were written.
It goes without saying, that when the Ethiopian decided to turn his hand to marathon running the overwhelming opinion was that his supremacy would continue over the legendary 42.195 km distance.
However, life hasn’t been plain sailing for the fleet-footed athlete since he stepped up to race his first marathon in Paris in 2014. And while moments of brilliance still see him sit second on the list of all-time fastest marathon runners, there’s a sense that if he is to fulfil his dream of becoming the world record holder, it may just be a case of now or never.
Kenenisa Bekele: Glimpses of greatness and first signs of injury woes
Sprinkled in between the list of 15 marathons that Bekele has signed up for are three nuggets of gold, beginning with his first-ever marathon effort.
Everything seemed to start so well in the Paris Marathon of 2014, as Bekele ran home in a course record of 2:05:04 - the sixth fastest debut of all time. However, even that first winning race had not been without its problems.
“My hamstring was not doing well,” Bekele said after his victory. “Just cramping sometimes. I worried about it maybe stopping me running, maybe the end of the race.”
While fourth place in the Chicago Marathon of the same year would be an exceptional finish for any runner, a DNF in Dubai gave the first inkling of a pattern of results that would see the distance legend pull out of one-third of the marathons he was scheduled to run in.
A career record of three marathon victories would be an enviable return for almost any marathon runner. But this isn’t any marathon runner. Bekele is one of the greatest athletes of all time.
Injuries have certainly played a major part in his struggles, with the gruelling training required for the marathon meaning the athlete hasn't often arrived at the starting line fully fit.
However, if there’s a lesson to be learned from those days of brilliance that are scattered through the last nine years of marathons, it’s this:
Don’t write off Kenenisa Bekele.
Bekele succeeds another Ethiopian legend but faces new challenge in Eliud Kipchoge
Bekele’s second marathon victory came in 2016 on the streets of Berlin. After an epic battle with former world record holder Wilson Kipsang, those famous fast feet burst into life over a final kilometre that saw Bekele claim not only the race win but also the Ethiopian record and the second-fastest record-eligible time in history.
In that moment, he stepped into a new realm of marathon running and beat the national record of his own mentor and idol, Haile Gebrselassie.
“My plan was to run my personal best, really I couldn’t focus on the record,” Bekele reflected on his missed opportunity to break the world record in the race. “So a little bit I made a mistake.”
No matter his personal disappointment, the 2016 Berlin Marathon seemed like a clear passing of the torch for Ethiopian distance running as Bekele took the role of king from nine-time marathon winner Gebrselassie.
But while Gebrselassie’s marathon career included a six-race winning streak that saw him break two world records (Berlin Marathon 2007 and 2009), Bekele followed up his own Berlin victory with another DNF in Dubai in 2017.
After bouncing back to claim an impressive second place in the 2017 London Marathon, two more DNFs followed in Berlin (2017) and Amsterdam (2018) sandwiching a sixth-place finish in London in 2018.
At this point, many were writing Bekele off due to his seeming inability to stay fit and injury-free, but there was another factor that played a role in people’s beliefs that Bekele may never achieve his world record dreams:
The rise of Eliud Kipchoge.
Kenenisa Bekele and the two-second gap to greatness
While Bekele’s marathon journey had been littered with ups and downs, one former track rival had been wracking up a string of victories that had the whole athletics world talking.
Between his debut in 2013 and spring 2018, Kenya’s Kipchoge won nine of the 10 marathons he entered, with the only blip on his copybook a second place in his second-ever marathon in Berlin in 2013. Even that race had taken a world record to beat him as Kipsang came home in 2:03:23.
Just six months after winning the London Marathon in April 2018, Kipchoge made history when he raced to a world record time of 2:01:39 in Berlin. It seemed nobody could halt the master in his quest to be the greatest marathoner of all time.
However, just a year later, something special happened that put Bekele’s name firmly back in the spotlight.
In 2019, the 36-year-old ran the race of his life in Berlin, storming to victory in 2:01:41. It was just two seconds slower than the word record.
The result that day was both brilliant and devastating at the same time.
“I missed the world record by two seconds,” Bekele said in an NN Running documentary about his career. “To be honest I was a little bit disappointed about it. Missing two seconds in a marathon is painful. In the moment I was disappointed about this race, but in the end, think before this race, a year ago, what is my performance.
“So everybody maybe forgets it you know, Bekele will not come back again, he finished his career. Everybody maybe they have doubts on my results but I showed the world my best in this race also.”
Bekele was back. And his performance that day left his doubters eating their own words. Whatever his struggles, you just couldn’t count out the Ethiopian legend.
Is this Bekele’s last shot at marathon world record?
Father time catches up with everyone - even someone who is arguably the greatest all-around distance runner ever.
In the four years since that famous Berlin victory, Bekele has failed to win another marathon while Kipchoge has bettered his own world record by half a minute, setting a time of 2:01:09 in 2022 in Berlin.
But the question still remains as to whether Bekele has one last chance at greatness; one last run that defies the barriers of age and allows him to burst ahead of his formidable rival.
“Actually, it is what motivates me,” Bekele said of Kipchoge's world record in a conversation with Nation Africa in the build-up to Sunday’s London Marathon race. “I still hope it will happen one day.”
23 April is the next date Bekele has a chance to fight for the world record. After that, in a sport where athletes may race just twice a year, there may not be too many more.
But who would bet - or even hope - against a last surge for glory from one of the most legendary athletes to ever lace up a pair of running shoes.