 Welcome to NewsClick. Today's big sporting story of the day is of course Elliot Kipchogi, the Kenyan runner, the 34 year old Kenyan marathon runner, who has for the first time broken the two hour mark for the marathon. One hour, 59 minutes and 40 seconds is what Kipchogi took to complete the marathon course in Vienna this morning. And it's perhaps not difficult to find all kinds of critiques and detractors and all kinds of ifs and buts in this situation. What our attempt today and I'm joined by Leslie Xavier to discuss this is to firstly react immediately to what's happened. It's a moment that will perhaps redefine athletics for generations to come, whichever side of the fence you sit on. And so immediate sort of reactions. Leslie, we were watching the last few minutes of that two hour, sub two hour race and you couldn't help but smile man irrespective of what you sort of feel about the endeavor or all of that and we'll get into some of that. But you couldn't help smiling in the last 500 meters when he sort of brushed aside the pacemakers and just went for that sprint. I don't know if it was a smile actually and it's I mean it might sound as an exaggeration but I haven't felt that kind of emotions in a sporting achievement for a long while now. It was momentous you know that barrier is there. It's the sheer human endeavor, the physical exertion that is involved the mental battle that is involved all these things. Yeah, it is there is a lot of technology involved around him. There is a lot of manipulation involved around this manipulation and not in the negative way but the point is that he ran that race and what beautifully he ran the strides. It's for the last 300 meters when he's when he did the sprint and then you could understand that there is a human running that otherwise it was a well oiled machine. You can see that not even a single ounce of muscle is moving out of place. It's all synchronized beautiful stride completely focused and then that moment I mean it's it's it's goosebumps actually because it's you know that it's now Marathons won't be the same and Kipchovike himself just after the race he said that it's not just me now many would break this barrier just like Roger Bannister's mile barrier and after that yeah so in that sense that's why I guess so much euphoria so much usage of the word historic moment in all of this because it was 1954 when Bannister broke the four-minute barrier on the mile and since then of course perhaps it's a matter of time still before someone breaks the nine second barrier in the hundred meter sprint but the two hour mark in in the marathon has been something that people have been going after and and Kipchovike is one of the guys who's come close to it in the past as well having done it now in just to quickly recap this is not an official race yeah not an official record either yeah and not an official record either it was essentially an event designed to from the point of view of the organizers of the event to go into to show that human limitations can be redefined or humans have no limitations like like it says on on one of the screens up top here yeah you know and Kipchovike of course said the same that that he believes that human beings have no limits and and can push beyond these kind of barriers so talk to us a little bit about the sort of military levels of preparation and organization that went into this race it's it's precise to the point of milliseconds I guess because they had set a pace and they had gotten the best runners of the generation to be paces and 41 of the best in the world were pacing in in seven member I mean seven teams who were surrounding Kipchovike when he was running making a phalanx basically a V shape in front of him so that there is a aerodynamic aerofoil kind of I mean it's like a minimum minimum resistance so creating a slipstream for me and this actually takes to the main company which was sponsoring this event it's a pharmaceutical company in yours in yours own say to the friend cycling team in fact the their team won this year's to their friends as well as last year's so they used to be team sky team sky earlier is not yeah so they must have you I mean this they have used their extensive knowledge of formations while cycling to cut through air and they have used running dynamics into it use that science used body physiology all these things they used meteorology because they wanted to ensure that the optimum conditions are there on the given day that's why Vienna was chosen two factors for that one is the weather the course which was a 9.4 kilometer loop almost straight with two two roundabouts at the end flat and straight and no this thing no wind at all but still they ensure that wind is not a factor by creating that bubble around him it was like a presidential on and that actually robbed spectators of watching keep showing his beautiful stride yeah it is a sight to be all but otherwise yeah getting back to the science part of it then there were two cars one a pacing car one in the front and one at the back and the front car was actually pointing a laser a green laser grid in front of the paces and they had to match that grid to ensure that they were within the target was 1 hour 15 1 hour 59 minutes and 50 seconds so they were and keep sure they finished in 40.2 seconds so 10 seconds within that time and said they were always 10 seconds so the timing involved was it's per kilometer break if you break up if you look at it every kilometer he ran between 2 minute 48 seconds and 2 minute 52 seconds so it's it was that precise and most of it was 2 minute 50 it was it was that precise he prepared for it for 4 months obviously many runners who came they were part of the world championship that concluded last week so they were all excited to be part of it and of an of the historic moment but the thing is that this entire manipulation it's been a lot of critics have been out there they have been saying that it's it's it's technological doping in a way but then no one claimed that it is a clean record run this was meant for Kipchore to show what is capable of as an athlete and also show beyond any doubt that human spirit and human athletic endeavor is something that can break any barriers it's it takes systematic approach it takes steps but it can be broken that's the that's the whole idea of this exercise I was just reading also now it is of course marathon season in a way and as the upcoming Chicago marathon I think the odds are in favor of the women's marathon record being broken in fact this year perhaps with Kipchogi having just done this and with the olympics next year maybe he'll decide to focus on that olympic gold medal in Tokyo probably will not be ideal in terms of doing this as an official race and as a record but do you see that record very soon being seriously challenged a barrier Kipchogi himself owns the record in fact it's it's two hours one minute and 39 seconds so this record was broken last year in Berlin Berlin is an ideal course for breaking records flat and weather is conducive and the most of the record items happen over there Kipchogi this happened a year after Kipchogi's first attempt at the two-hour barrier and he fell short of that for 26 seconds short of that he finished in two hours 24 25 seconds so but the point was that when he was running that two-hour barrier targeting that two-hour barrier in 2017 he didn't know what he was getting into it was an unknown element but when he touched very that close to two-hour he knew what he's capable of physically and a year later he broke his own record by more than two minutes so that is the kind of thing that people are talking about now even he himself is talking about now I know in fact pointed out that now everybody knows that this is possible but the important fact is that by far he is the best athlete marathon runner for of the generation has dominated it for the last six years the entire field he has won almost all the city marathons across the world all the elite marathons that need needs to be won and so he would obviously now know that he can touch officially two hours so if not an official to a breaking barrier official record he would come very close to that in the next two three years which would be his period now after that he will obviously fade age will catch up so Tokyo it's it's not an ideal city for for a record but it would be a great city to have that record because of the Japanese running culture that is there very well it's a huge marathon culture but I don't think Olympic games would be that occasion maybe 2020 would be skipped maybe 2020 21 Berlin but yeah this to our barrier there is a chance that in the next five six years it would be broken officially I think like everyone would agree more or less that running marathons running especially will will not be the same again and you touched a little bit on the sort of mental aspect of it knowing that he can do it and how that will perhaps spur him on to try at least this sort of stuff in the future and and other athletes I was reading Elliot talking about coming into this race firstly it was only four months of actual preparation that went in which is remarkable at the end of the race we were commenting and I think everyone else was as well that he looked like he'd just you know gone for a walk in the park or to pick up the newspaper and so that's the physical part but the mental part that he was saying was that yesterday or the day before the actual event was for him the toughest day of his life because everyone from the Kenyan president to all kinds of high-profile celebrities were calling him and spurring him on and then the three or so hours between his wake-up time at whatever 5.30 in the morning and and and 8.15 when he started the run was again you saying that like that's the hardest part then when you get on to the track then all everything else takes over then you're just doing what you're good at doing yeah so again so there is a lot of stake because he has failed at this attempt previously and he also knows that there is a small window for him now age-wise peak-wise prime-wise and being an elite athlete you I mean he is considered the Roger Federer of marathon running or the Muhammad Ali of marathon running in fact Muhammad Ali would be apt because he wants to go beyond the sport as well do things beyond that probably and there I have been reading about him there have been interviews in which he has said that he needs to do this or he needs to conquer all that is there to conquer in marathon so that he can actually go beyond the sport and do things which are meaningful and this obviously has a meaning so this this barrier breaking of the barrier obviously has a meaning also in that regard because it's about human abilities but when that kind of a pressure is there on yourself obviously there will be goosebumps and then the added part that it's all it's all scheduled it's it's it's it's it's in a way mechanical in a way there's no reactionary you are not racing any anyone again anything against any other racer there is a clock you're racing against the clock there is a set pace set rhythm to is this thing it's all it's all precise so getting that I'm sure it would have helped because then the athlete switches his mind to the mechanical part of it where he has trained so much that he has to he knows he knows the steps if he knows the nutrition that is needed everything so that I'm sure being an elite athlete I'm sure being the world champion that he is he would have coped with that kind of a goosebumps I mean that kind of butterflies in his stomach and all that by getting into the preparation mode where he gets into the zone and walk by God what zone he was in because he got in and he just like you said if we go to go and pick up the newspaper we pant so and I was thinking that I do a bit of cycling around for fun here and if I was pacing him on my cycle I would have struggled to I would have killed me because I would have failed him in the world record at him so yeah that's the that's the thing that we are talking about and the other aspect is that marathon running is so big now among among commoners that there is so breaking a nine second barrier in under meters it's yeah great but we don't identify with it yeah because we I mean most people will not be sprinters sprinters yeah but runners they know that's why the celebration that's why the the the understanding that this is huge because we also run marathon and people target four hours people target five hours people target three hours yeah so amateur runners I'm talking amateur and so yeah and you could tell from the sort of public support that was out there along this course in Vienna some places 15 16 people deep I mean and this guy's despite the fact that he's surrounded by a team of uh paces that's essentially blocking him off there are still people 15 deep trying to get a glimpse of him I saw kids running on the side trying to stay with the pace it's ridiculous and also the crowd was important because he realized it in the previous attempt in Monza which was at the racetrack and it was completely cordoned off things were silent and Kipchogi is a kind of runner who lifts himself up with with crowd support and crowd noise and all that so he was very he was insisting that I need I need crowd presence there so right now so for at least for today a moment for everyone to sort of celebrate and that about wraps it up for I think this part for more on this and for all of news click sports coverage you can head to www.newsclick.in also please do subscribe and like our facebook and youtube pages and follow us on instagram thanks for watching