Opinion | How Did Eliud Kipchoge Break the Marathon Record So Soon?

The event could be dismissed as a branding stunt. Ineos, which sponsored the event, is a chemical giant that’s facing considerable opposition to its plans to frack for shale gas in the United Kingdom. At the behest of its founder and chief shareholder, Jim Ratcliffe, a Brexit supporter who is among Britain’s richest people, Ineos now owns Swiss and French soccer clubs and a British cycling team, and is financing a 2021 America’s Cup sailing team.

Of course, participants were covered in Nike logos from head to toe.

But it was never guaranteed that Mr. Kipchoge was going to succeed. In a similar attempt two years ago, staged by Nike on a Formula One racetrack in Italy, he came up just short. Two years later, the shoes are faster, the conditions were ideal and the runner himself was stronger.

You could tell from the reaction of his pacers, who were cheering despite running their own pacing 5Ks at a searing speed, that Mr. Kipchoge is widely liked and admired. That is partly because when he talks about running, he talks less about himself than about how his achievements fit into the context of “the world” and “humanity.” The joy and inspiration of the moment are hard to take issue with.

Mr. Kipchoge has earned millions of dollars from his work but still trains with his teammates in the rural highlands of Kenya near where he grew up. On Saturday morning, for all the science thrown his way, he woke up and ate oatmeal for breakfast. Last year, in a profile by The Times, he said that one of his favorite books was “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” and recommended that the reporter read it too.

Soft-spoken and charismatic, he speaks in the style of a philosopher. After Saturday’s marathon, when he was asked how he planned to celebrate, he replied, “As normal. I don’t go haywire celebrating. I always celebrate in a human way, in a calm way.”

In this marathon Mr. Kipchoge wasn’t racing against anyone — and was running for everyone. In Kenya the event was huge. He received a call from the country’s president, President Uhuru Kenyatta, the night before his run, and footage from his hometown, Eldoret, showed overjoyed crowds of thousands breaking into song as he closed in on the finish line. People around the world woke up at all hours to watch the race in real time, which started at 8:15 a.m. in Austria. There were thousands of people lining the park cheering him on in Vienna, something that rarely happens for distance running these days.

So what’s next? It’s not too soon to dream: Though it took a while, someone eventually climbed Everest without oxygen. It’s also worth noting that there’s currently no women’s equivalent of “breaking two” — we could put similar energy and investment into that. And someday, someone will break two hours without massive shoes or a team of 41 world-class runners. Mr. Kipchoge himself is the first to say so.

Others are already right behind him — Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia came within just two seconds of Mr. Kipchoge’s world record last month. And the 2020 Olympics are less than a year away. We’ve seen what he can do on his own. Now, let’s watch them race.

Lindsay Crouse (@lindsaycrouse), an editor with Op-Docs, has a best marathon time of 2:57.

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