Double Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge has revealed that he will not attack the world record at the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Kipchoge is set to team up with the recently crowned London Marathon winner Alexander Mutiso Munyao and one-time Tokyo Marathon champion Benson Kipruto in Paris.
The trio are expected to face stiff competition from their Ethiopian counterparts Kenenisa Bekele and Sisay Lemma who were recently confirmed for the games which kick off on July 26.
According to Kipchoge, his focus will be on adding another Olympic Games title on his trophy laden cabinet.
The Kaptagat based road race runner already has two of those titles under his name after winning his first Olympic Games title at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro edition before defending it in Tokyo.
“We started this journey in 2017 and then I ran the best time in running. 2018 I ran a world record. 2019 I ran under 2 hours. I have won over 13 world major marathons. The training is going on well and it is really going on in a good way.
Last night the Isuzu wished me the best of luck with a very big symbol by our artists. That is a huge motivation to me. I am looking at winning at the third time, not a world record,” he noted.
Kipchoge lost the world record to the late Kelvin Kiptum in October 2023, when the latter produced a remarkable performance to win the Chicago Marathon in a time of 2:00.35.
Kiptum’s mark was more than a half a minute faster than the previous world record of 2:01.09, which Kipchoge had set at the 2022 Berlin Marathon edition.
Most marathon fans were expecting to see Kipchoge and the late Kiptum race against each other for the first time in their careers in Paris until Kiptum’s untimely demise.
The legendary runner perished at the age of 24 in a tragic road accident that occurred three months ago along the Eldoret-Kaptagat highway.
His Rwandese coach Gervais Hakizimana was also a victim of the crash in which shocked the entire world.
