World record holder Eliud Kipchoge and London Marathon winner Brigid Kosgei have been declared this year’s winners of the World Marathon majors.
Each athlete scored 50 points representing two victories each in the grand prix event which began at the Berlin Marathon in September last year and concluded at the same race last week.
Kipchoge is gearing up for the 2019 Vienna marathon in Austria next week where he will try to lower his World record in less than two hours.
Kipchoge edged out Ethiopians Lelisa Desisa and Birhanu Legesem who ended the series tied on 41 points. In the elite women’s competition, Kosgei takes home her first World marathon majors’ trophy after winning the Chicago and London marathons.
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Second place goes to Ruti Aga of Ethiopia who won in Tokyo marathon and second place in Berlin in 2018.
Kenya’s Vivian Cheruiyot is third after finishing second in both New York and London marathons. Alongside Berlin, the series has stops in Chicago, New York, Tokyo, London and Boston.
The series, which will include the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Marathon next August, will conclude in Chicago in October 2020.
Meanwhile Kipchoge will have a total of 42 pacemakers as he seeks to run the marathon in under two hours at the INEOS 1:59 Challenge in Austria, next week.
