Eliud Kipchoge celebrates with his wife after brwaking the two-hour marathon ceiling at the Ineos 1:59 challenge in Vienna, Austria on October 12, 2019. PHOTO/Ineos/Twitter
NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 16 – Eliud Kipchoge quietly returned home early Wednesday morning after his historic Ineos 1:59 Challenge in Vienna Austria, travelling in from Amsterdam, Netherlands where his management company NN Running are based.
True to his quiet nature and dislike for too much attention, Kipchoge flew to Nairobi and arrived a few minutes to 6am before immediately proceeding to his home in Eldoret, devoid of the fanfare that many were anticipating.
Kipchoge became the first man in history to run the marathon under two hours when he completed the Ineos Challenge in one hour, 59 minutes and 40 seconds on Saturday.
Athletics Kenya (AK) boss Lt. Gen (Rtd) Jackson Tuwei while receiving women’s marathon record holder Brigid Kosgei at the AK headquarters in Nairobi on Wednesday morning said they will officially welcome him back home next week.
“I was in Vienna personally to witness him make history and we are proud of him. As AK we will host him here next week and officially welcome him back home because he has put Kenyan athletics somewhere high on the world map,” Tuwei said on Tuesday.
Kipchoge will recede to a period of rest and recovery where his team will work on getting him back to tip top shape after a grueling last five months of training and actual race day.
His next focus is on the Tokyo Olympics next year and the 34-year old world record holder said he is not done yet.
“There is still more to do in athletics,” Kipchoge said after his run in Vienna.
