Kenya's Kipchoge named Male Athlete of the year

Olympic marathon champion and World Marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge is the 2019 World Athletics Male Athlete of the year.

Kipchoge, 35, beat four other contestants to retain the award during the World Athletics gala in Monaco on Saturday night.

They are World Cross Country and World 10,000m champion Joshua Cheptegei from Uganda, World 200m champion Noah Lyles (USA), World 400m hurdles champion Karsten Warholm (Norway) and World pole vault champion Sam Kendricks (USA).

Kipchoge retained the award thanks to his barrier-busting marathon in Vienna in October.

The Kenyan Olympic champion clocked one hour, 59 minutes and 40 seconds over the 42.2km distance, though the record is unofficial because he used rotating pacemakers.

“I’m happy to be the first human being to run under two hours,” said Kipchoge, who also holds the official world record of 2:01:39.

Reuters