‘I still want to win something’ – Eliud Kipchoge reveals burning desire for success after poor 2024

Eliud Kipchoge at Kiplagat's burial|COURTESY

‘I still want to win something’ – Eliud Kipchoge reveals burning desire for success after poor 2024

Joel Omotto 16:27 - 21.09.2024

Kenya’s marathon great Eliud Kipchoge is still not done yet as he is eyeing further success despite calls for him to retire following his disappointing 2024 season.

Marathon legend Eliud Kipchoge has reiterated his desire to continue running at the highest level despite a challenging 2024 season.

Kipchoge has endured a tumultuous campaign when he finished a disappointing 10th at the Tokyo Marathon, his worst ever over the 42km race, before another poor outing at the Paris Olympics when he failed to finish a marathon for the first time.

That has seen some fans write off of the 39-year-old as a spent cartridge who should now call time on his career but Kipchoge is not about to hang his spikes.

“I still want to win something else,” Kipchoge told Runner’s World, of his burning desire for success.

“Running is like life – full of challenges. That’s why it’s called life. You’re training, feeling tired, dealing with injury, not hitting the targets in training, not hitting the targets in rest – but consistency is the key.

“If you miss today, you wake up tomorrow. If you have a rest this month, and you actually know the goal that you set, don’t fall down. Wake up, move on every day and next time you will achieve it. Those small, small things will be a big thing.”

Kipchoge feels he is still in good shape to continue challenging for titles.

“You know, it’s about being consistent. It’s about pressing on every day,” he added.

At the Olympics, Kipchoge dropped off at the 31km mark, saying back pains had put him in a spot of bother, although he was out of contention by then.

“I have accepted it. I’ve accepted the results. You know, running has a lot of challenges, and the moment you encounter any challenge, you need to accept it and move on,” the legendary athlete said of his Olympics performance.

“The [Paris] Olympics actually advocated for peace in this world. But above all, I got a chance. No Olympic flag is white – it has five rings, and every ring represents a continent. And I got a chance to represent a black ring that’s the continent of Africa – and that’s still on my mind.

“I represented Africa as a continent, and we came together as continents to tell the whole world that the Olympic Games is the case whereby we are rooting for peace and rooting for education without any bias at all.”