Kenyan Kipchoge encourages all athletes to take part in World Athletics survey

Kenyan Kipchoge encourages athletes to have their say

JOHANNESBURG, April 30 (ANA) – Kenyan marathon legend Eliud Kipchoge on Friday encouraged all athletes – professional and recreational – to take part in the World Athletics Global Conversation survey.

The survey aims to gauge the popularity of the sport in the various countries, and which areas can be improved to promote the growth of athletics.

Kipchoge who won the NN Mission Marathon in The Netherlands last week said: “I am recovering well,” said Kipchoge in a video released by Athletics Kenya. “But I still have one more mission – to complete World Athletics’ Global Conversation survey. Have you?”

The triumph in the NN Mission Marathon, however, was anything but trivial for Kipchoge. There were serious concerns over the future of Kipchoge following his worst result-ever in a 42.2km event at the London Marathon in October last year. There he finished eighth, and it was a far cry from his dominant performances in 11 of his previous 12 marathons.

It’s not uncommon for a top athlete to have a bad day in the marathon, but that just never happened to Kipchoge until the event in London.

He’s the only man to have completed the 42.2km distance in under two hours in an unofficial special event called the Ineos 1:59 Challenge. Kipchoge is also the current world record holder with his time of 2:01:39 he ran at the Berlin Marathon in 2018.

Up until the 2020 London Marathon, Kipchoge had won 11 of the 12 marathons he had competed in – with the only blemish on his record being the second place he claimed at the 2013 Berlin Marathon.

With the win, Kipchoge showed he will still be the man to beat at the Tokyo Olympics later this year.

His winning time of 2:04:30 was the fastest in the world this year.

“Mission accomplished,” said Kipchoge. – African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Michael Sherman