A man: Eliud Kipchoge . And a challenge: run 42,195 kilometers in less than two hours . The best marathoner in history before the last frontier of athletics. One time. For the last time? Sometime between 5:00 and 9:00 this Saturday , in the Prater Park in Vienna (next to where Spain raised the Euro 2008 ), the Kenyan will look for what until five years ago seemed impossible, until he appeared, until Nike invested.

Because in adventure both factors are equally important. Kipchoge is a unique runner . Notable on the track, where he was world champion of 5,000 meters in 2003 and Olympic runner-up in 2008 , he changed young on the asphalt, at age 29, and since then nobody has been able to match him. Since 2013 he has run the legendary distance 12 times and has only lost once , in his second attempt, in Berlin 2013, before the world record of Wilson Kipsang that he himself would end up reducing. Last year, also in Berlin, Kipchoge left the record of the marathon 100 seconds from the two-hour barrier (2:01:39) and focused on the challenge that Nike proposed to him five years ago.

Then the American brand got tired of losing the marathon war against Adidas and its Yankee style was launched for the greatest achievement that could be thought of: it created the so-called 'Breaking2 Project' . They hired all those hired, scientists, doctors, physiologists, physiotherapists and, of course, runners like Kipchoge himself, and began to organize custom marathons. The first was in 2017 at the Monza circuit , where the Kenyan stopped the clock at 2:00:25. The second, this Saturday in Vienna.

IDEAL CONDITIONS

Again, the time will not be homologated according to the rules of the International Athletics Federation (IAAF) , but again the experiment will test the limits of the human being and, more importantly, will serve to sell millions of shoes. Because at the foot of Kipchoge will be the key. As two years ago in Monza, the Kenyan will run with a new Vaporfly model in which Nike has introduced all its innovations and that, within a few weeks, will go on sale. To the carbon fiber plate that revolutionized the sector in recent times, advances are now incorporated as a potentiometer similar to that used by cyclists. But that will not be the only advantage with which Kipchoge will run in Vienna.

Among other things, your time cannot be homologated because the route - a 9.6 kilometer circuit inside the park - will not be certified by an official meter, because there will be no anti-doping controls , because a car will slow the wind and mark the pace, because the supplies will be on the move, because there will not be at least three competitors in the test and because the 41 hares will come out and enter throughout the tour.

At that point, in fact, it is where Nike has turned all its marketing to create a greater interest in the challenge. Together with Kipchoge they will be from the Ingebrigsten brothers to Bernard Lagat , at 44, passing through the Ethiopian Selemon Barega , recent runner-up in the world of 5,000 meters or the Swiss Julien Wanders , European half marathon record holder. They have all been in Vienna for several days planning the challenge and preparing for the appointment. A man: Eliud Kipchoge. And a challenge: run 42,195 kilometers in less than two hours.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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