Kenyan Kimetto smashes marathon record in Berlin

Dennis Kimetto set a world record by winning the 41st Berlin Marathon in 2 hours, 2 minutes, 57 seconds on Sunday. The 30-year-old Kenyan knocked 26 seconds off the record of 2:03:23 set by compatriot Wilson Kipsang in Berlin last year to become the first man to complete a marathon in under two hours, three minutes. Kimetto dazzled hundreds of thousands of spectators along the inner-city course with his quick and seemingly effortless running style that saw off any challenge during the race.

I feel good today for today is a big day for me. ‘The fans made me confident and I thought I could do it.

Dennis Kimetto, Kenyan marathon runner

The 30-year-old pre-race favourite broke away in a seven-man group, including fellow Kenyans Emmanuel Mutai and Geoffrey Kamworor, after 20 kilometres on a sunny and cool Berlin morning. With four km remaining, he pulled clear from Mutai after the pair had shaken off Kamworor a little earlier to become the first man to complete the race in less than two hours and three minutes. Kimetto, whose time also eclipsed the 2:03:02 clocked by Geoffrey Mutai in 2011 on Boston’s record-ineligible point-to-point course, clocked under three minutes for all but three kms with an average of two minutes and 55 seconds per km in a sensational race.

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