BEIJING, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge was just 25 seconds away from striding over the 2-hour barrier on Saturday in a closed-door marathon race in Monza, Italy.
Kipchoge clocked two hours 25 seconds to beat two-time Boston Marathon winner Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia and half-marathon world-record holder Zersenay Tadese from Eritrea in the race.
The three elite runners started at 5:45am on the 2.4km loop around portions of the Autodromo Nazionale track, home to Formula One's Italian Grand Prix. At around 20km, Kipchoge pulled away to leave his rivals far behind.
Tadese finished in 2:06:51 while Desisa came in 2:14:10.
It was by far the fastest marathon. However, Kipchoge's time does not count as a record because of the pacing strategy that allowed other runners to join the course other than at the start.
The world record over the 42.195km is 2:2:57, set by Dennis Kimetto of Kenya in Berlin in 2014.
The race essentially is an experiment of Nike to see how much human potential can be tapped. To bring out the runners' best performances, the race has been held at ideal temperature, location, time of day and with high-quality gear. Runners were also frequently given hydration and nutrition.
