Kipchoge after Melbourne: "I am happy to run with the Gen Zs"
The 41-year-old says he can still compete with the next generation, three races into his plan to run a marathon on every continent.
In short: Eliud Kipchoge said after winning the Melbourne Marathon on 11 October 2026 in a 2:09:10 course record that his body is "still peaking" and that he is "happy to run with the Gen Zs". Melbourne was the third stop of his seven-continent marathon tour.
"I believe that my body is still peaking, still able to compete with the next generation," Kipchoge said after Sunday's race in Melbourne, The Star reports. "The oldest athlete is still competing, but I am happy to run with the Gen Zs."
He said he lifted the pace after 30 km to see if he could beat the race record: "My plan went well." His 2:09:10 took two seconds off the 2:09:12 Timothy Ronoh ran in 2022. It was his first marathon win since the 2023 Berlin Marathon.
Melbourne was the third stop on his plan to run a marathon on every continent. He was 16th in Cape Town in May in 2:13:29 and 12th in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 2:18:39, The Star reports. Al Jazeera reports the tour, which includes Antarctica, is planned over two years. Neither outlet names his next race.
Kipchoge also praised the Melbourne crowd: "The crowd is so wonderful, I've never seen a crowd like this," he said, calling it "really, really a sporting city". Read the full race report.