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TL;DR news on Kipchoge at June 14, 2023

Galen Rupp, 35, the American who won a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, shadowed Kipchoge for the first 17.5 miles. At that point, Kipchoge gestured for Rupp to assist by running at the front. But Kipchoge still produced a sense of wonderment that a man could run 26.2 miles while sustaining a pace of 4 minutes 34 seconds per mile. Raised in Kapsisiwo, Kenya, by his mother, a nursery school teacher, Kipchoge has said he ran four times every day, about five to six kilometers, to and from primary school. Kipchoge's victory margin of 1min 20sec was the biggest since Frank Shorter's win in the 1972 Munich Games. A large lead group of about 50 runners, including Kipchoge, defending world champion Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia and Rio bronze medallist Galen Rupp of the United States went through 10km in 30min 53sec. I was running 5,000m then and now I'm running a marathon in Sapporo." When asked whether the race in Sapporo would be his last, Kipchoge said he was only focusing on winning gold for now. "I was really happy, I can't describe it," Kipchoge said of his feelings as he crossed the finish line holding up two fingers to signify his two golds. As Kipchoge once said himself, even the fastest car can get a flat tyre. It has given birth to a feeling that, after an era in which he seemed to be running on clouds, Kipchoge is back down here, pounding concrete with the mere mortals. World record holder Kipchoge is 36 and not running as well as he was a couple of years ago, but then the same is true of Lelisa Desisa, who heads a strong Ethiopian contingent.