Kenyan runner comes close — but 2-hour marathon barrier remains unbroken

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(CNN)One of the most sought after frontiers left in sports was approached so tantalizingly close early Saturday however not broken, with Kenyan runner Eliud Kipchoge covering a complete marathon course in 2 hours and 24 seconds.

Kipchoge, 32, the 2016 Olympic champ and the 2016 winner of the London Marathon kept up fellow first-rate runners Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia and Zersany Tadese from Eritrea in Nike's "Breaking2" task targeted at covering the 26.2 miles (42.2 km) of a marathon in under 2 hours. Directed by an army of pacing runners, the 3 begun together however in the end it was Kipchoge who came closest to the objective.

The effort was achieved at the Monza Formula 1 racetrack near Milan, Italy-- a website particularly picked due to the fact that it was constructed for speed. The effort came 63 years to the day considering that Roger Bannister ended up being the very first individual to ever run a sub-4-minute mile.

Sports huge Nike in 2014 released its"Breaking2 "task, and Saturday's outcome culminated hours and hours of style, research study and preparation-- all committed to optimizing human capacity over the marathon.

"We think that as soon as a sub-two-hour marathon is done, the records will fall at conventional marathons after that," Brad Wilkins, the director of NXT Generation Research in the Nike Sport Research Lab, informed CNN ahead of the race. "People will run much faster and quicker, much like when Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile."

It's hard to downplay the record rate taped Saturday. A sub-two-hour marathon would include performing at a speed of 4:34 per mile-- 7 seconds quicker than the present record of 2:02:57 set by Kenya's Dennis Kimetto at the 2014 Berlin Marathon.

But whether Saturday's outcome will count formally is up for dispute. All marathon records have to be formally validated by the IAAF, the International Governing Body for Athletics. The IAAF informed CNN it would not have the ability to evaluate whether Nike's effort will count as a main time up until it has actually happened.

David Bedford, a previous British runner from the 1970s who held the 10,000-meter world record, has actually cast doubt over the "Breaking2" task.

The race was operated on Monza's repaired 2.4 km (1.49-mile) looped track-- the place of the fastest lap in the history of Formula One. It does not compare with occasions like the London and Boston marathons where runners complete versus countless others, jockeying for position and needing to withstand difficult hills.

"My own view is that it will be extremely intriguing to see exactly what takes place," Bedford informed CNN prior to the race. "But I believe we might need to take the outcome with a pinch of salt.

"I believe we have to accept it as it is. I think it is an excellent marketing concept, and I believe the outcomes might offer us some sign of the sort of aid professional athletes may require. The efficiency itself need to adhere to the conditions around world records, or it's useless."

Besides the beneficial track picked by Nike, the "Breaking2" organizers sought to ideal the professional athletes' own specific efficiency, tracking their hydration and nutrition down to the minute information of what does it cost? sweat each runner was anticipated to lose throughout the race.

Among other elements, Nike picked the 3 runners Saturday on 3 crucial measurements: running economy, vo2 and speed-- the optimum quantity of oxygen their body can make use of throughout extreme workout.

The 3 professional athletes likewise were geared up with a specifically created marathon shoe-- light-weight, cushioned, thick soled, and fitted with a carbon plate to decrease the quantity the foot bends. Bret Schoolmeester, the head of Nike shoes for the international department, stated he thinks the shoe might enhance running economy by 4%-- essential when every 2nd counts over 26.2 miles.

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The something Nike could not determine prior to the race was the runners' grit. Researchers had actually shown the runners were capable, and the professional athletes had actually shown perseverance in their training to aim to set a brand-new bar worldwide of human efficiency.

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