World marathon record holder Kipchoge arrives home after running marathon in under two hours

World marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge with Kenya Airways' crew [photo courtesy]

World marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge has arrived back in Kenya, four days after he became the first man to run a marathon in under two hours on a specially prepared course in a Vienna park.

The 34-year-old, who was flown out of the country on October 7 in a chartered plane to Austria, made a low key return in the county on Wednesday at 6:30am aboard flight KQ 117 from Amsterdam.

He arrived with no fans lining up at the airport to catch a glimpse of him or a group of top government officials to receive him.

Kenya Airways tweeted a photo of Kipchoge with its crew that flew him home from Amsterdam.

“Honoured to fly our CHAMPION @eliudkipchoge home from Amsterdam. The Pride is so proud of you! #ChampionOnBoard #NoHumanIsLimited” read the tweet.

The Olympic marathon champion and world record holder completed the course around Vienna's Prater park in one hour, 59 minutes and 40 seconds.

After thrusting himself into All-Time Greats in marathon on Saturday Eliud Kipchoge and world 1500m champion Timothy Cheruiyot were yesterday shortlisted for the IAAF World male athletes awards.

Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge (white jersey) celebrates after busting the mythical two-hour barrier for the marathon on October 12 2019 in Vienna. - Kipchoge holds the men's world record for the distance with a time of 2hr 01min 39sec, which he set in the flat Berlin marathon on September 16, 2018


The two Kenyans were nominated for their great performance alongside nine other athletes with remarkable range of exceptional performances that the sport witnessed this year, at the World Athletics Championships in Doha, and in the Diamond League and in road and cross country events.

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