Ethiopian Andamlak Belihu and defending champion Guye Adola stuck with the 37-year-old for the first half of the race but gave up as Kipchoge rushed for victory and eventually crossed the finish line opposite from the Brandenburg Gate alone.
Double Olympic champion Kipchoge became the first athlete to run a marathon distance in under two hours in Vienna in 2019, but it was not recognized as an official world record as it was set with a team of pacemakers rotating and not in open competition.
For this official record, Kipchoge started fast, setting a 10k split time of just 28:23 and reaching the halfway mark in less than an hour.
Adola matched him step by step through the first ten kilometers, but only Belihu was able to stay with Kipchoge as the race crossed halfway.
After 25km, Kipchoge also started to pull away from Belihu, and although his blistering pace slowed slightly, he stayed comfortably ahead of the world record until the line.
His compatriot Mark Korir finished more than four minutes later, in 2:05:58, to take second place while Ethiopian Tadu Abate completed the podium with a time of 2:06:28.
In the women’s race, Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa set a course record and took victory in 2:15:37, the third fastest time in history and 18 minutes faster than her previous personal best.
Just starting his second marathon after leaving the 800m, Assefa ran 1:08:13 to stay with the peloton for the first half of the race, before recording a negative gap of 1:07:25 to outrun the rest of the race. field.
Kenya’s Rosemary Wanjiru finished second with a time of 2:18:00, while Ethiopia’s Tigist Abayechew finished three seconds later in third place.
