Eliud Kipchoge wants the course record at the 2023 Boston Marathon

In three weeks, the world’s fastest marathoner, Eliud Kipchoge, will take on the prestigious Boston Marathon for the first time in his quest for wins at all six Abbott World Marathon Majors. In an interview with Nation Africa, Kipchoge said he wants to win with a course record time–which is currently two hours and three minutes. 

Kenya‘s Geoffrey Mutai holds the course record time of 2:03:02 from the 2011 Boston Marathon.

The 38-year-old is currently in his final weeks of preparation with his NN Running Team in Kaptagat, Kenya, before he takes on Boston on April 17. He told Nation that he’s ready for any challenges the Boston course throws at him. “The weather can be unpredictable, but I am trying to be an all-weather man,” said the reigning back-to-back Olympic marathon champion. “If any challenge comes his way that morning, I will go with it.”

One thing that is sets Boston apart from other marathon majors is that there are no elite pacers allowed. In his last two marathons, Kipchoge had pacers, until he left them around the 20 km mark. 

Kipchoge said he and his training partners designed a hilly long-run route in Kaptagat to emulate the Boston hills, involving 40+ kilometres of rolling hills at 2,500 metres above sea level. He has been training at altitude for his entire career, which helps him breathe well and run fast.

Kipchoge is coming off a world record-breaking 2:01:09 performance at the 2022 Berlin Marathon last September, where he broke his previous world record by 30 seconds. The undisputed greatest marathoner of all time has a goal of winning all six Abbott World Marathon Majors; the only two he’s missing are Boston and NYC (the two races he has never run). 

In addition, Kipchoge wants to accomplish all six in course record times, having achieved course records in London (2:02:37), Berlin (2:01:09) and Tokyo (2:02:40). If he intends to set course records at all six majors, Kipchoge would need to run the Chicago Marathon again to chase Dennis Kimetto’s time 2:03:45 from 2013. Kimetto held the marathon world record of 2:02:57 until Kipchoge broke it for the first time in 2018.

Outside of all six majors, Kenya’s most famous athlete also wants to become the first marathoner to win three straight Olympic marathon titles, which he will have the opportunity to do at Paris 2024.