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A then 18-year-old Kipchoge floored a strong field to win the men's 5000m final race in a championship record.
During the 2003 World Championships in France, 15 brave men took on the tough course in the men’s 5000m with the hope of making a statement in the global showpiece.
Among those men was World Marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge, who was only 18 years old at the time.
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At the time, legendary marathoner Kenenisa Bekele shot into the lead and Hicham El Guerrouj settled into his slipstream. The whole world was watching the battle between the two, forgetting the little-known Kipchoge.
To everyone’s surprise, Kipchoge changed the script for the great Ethiopian and the magnificent Moroccan and dazzled to take top honours, clocking a championship record time of 12:52.79.
Admittedly, Kipchoge had won the U20 men’s title at the 2003 World Cross Country Championships in Lausanne and broke the world U20 5000m record at the Bislett Games in Oslo, clocking 12:52.61.
However, Bekele, 21 at the time, was emerging as Haile Gebrselassie’s successor as the king of distance running. As for El Guerrouj, the world record holder at 1500m (3:26.00) and the mile (3:43.13), marks which still stand today, he was fresh from completing his fourth successive world outdoor 1500m success in Paris.
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In that race, with 900 metres to go, El Guerrouj hit the front and started to wind up the pace. It was unknown territory for the 1500m specialist.
His senior debut at 5000m had come only two months prior. With 200m to go, he had a two meter lead on Kipchoge, with Bekele half a stride further behind.
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Around the final bend, Kipchoge moved alongside the Moroccan, shifting into lane two. Bekele threatened to do the same in lane three but could not match the finishing speed of the other two.
Kipchoge then sprinted to the finish line and cut the tape in a championship record time of 12:52:79 as El Guerrouj finished second in 12:52.83. Bekele completed the podium in 12:53.12.
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“With 300 metres to go, I was thinking of a medal. When there was 70m left, I saw that Hicham was no longer going away. I decided to go, and now I am the world champion. I am very happy,” Kipchoge reflected as per World Athletics.
Kipchoge has still maintained his prowess in the sport and is now the world record holder in the marathon. In September last year, he broke the marathon record in Berlin for the second time, clocking 2:01:09.
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Since turning to the marathon, however, Kipchoge has found his perfect distance. A four-time winner in London and Berlin, he set the first of his two world records in the German capital in 2018, clocking 2:01:39.
He also became the first man to break the two-hour barrier, albeit in non-record conditions, running 1:59:40.2 with the aid of pacemakers and fluid provision in Vienna in 2019.
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In claiming marathon gold in Rio in 2016 and in Sapporo in 2021, Kipchoge became the third man to win back-to-back Olympic titles at the distance.
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