Apr 17-19, 2025, TBD
Bryan Clay Invitational
2018 Berlin Marathon

Enjoy Some More Jaw-Dropping Stats From Berlin & Talence

Enjoy Some More Jaw-Dropping Stats From Berlin & Talence

Here are some of the most eye-popping stats from Eliud Kipchoge's and Kevin Mayer's world records in Berlin and Talence.

Sep 17, 2018 by Jennifer Zahn
Enjoy Some More Jaw-Dropping Stats From Berlin & Talence

This shouldn't be news to anyone who clicked on this article, but in case you somehow got amnesia between then and now, yesterday was kind of a big deal in the world of professional running and track and field. Eliud Kipchoge showed he was beyond the limitations of mere mortals by annihilating the marathon world record in Berlin, and then Kevin Mayer followed up with an astonishing decathlon world record in Talence, France. 

If you haven't enjoyed enough content about these tremendous feats just yet, here's a compilation of some of the most eye-popping stats from Berlin and Talence.

Statistics below courtesy of Ken Nakamura:

  • 2:01:39 broke Dennis Kimetto's former world record, 2:02:57, by more than a minute (1:18)
  • That's the biggest chunk taken off the world record since Derek Clayton broke Morio Shigematsu's world record of 2:12:00 by running 2:09:37 in the 1967 Fukuoka Marathon
  • 14:18 is the fastest 5k split between 15k to 20k in history
  • 1:12:24 is the fastest 25k split in history (except for the Monza race)
  • 1:26:45 is nearly 30 seconds faster than fastest-ever 30k split (1:27:13 by Kipchoge at the 2016 London Marathon)
  • 60:33 is the fastest closing half marathon in history (in the fast marathon)
  • The sum of the men's and women's winning times in today's Berlin marathon is 4:19:50 (2:01:39+2:18:11), which is by far the fastest in history. The second-fastest is 4:22:48 from the 2018 London Marathon.
  • Tirunesh Dibaba has now run three sub-2:19 marathons; only Paula Radcliffe has more with four (Note: Mary Keitany has two, and nobody else has more than one).
  • Tirunesh Dibaba's 2:18:55 is the best third-place time in history. She now has the best second-place time as well as the best third-place time in history.
  • For men, the top-10 average for the Berlin Marathon is now 2:03:14, which is nearly a minute faster than the average for Dubai (2:04:13)
  • For women, the top-10 average for the Berlin Marathon is now 2:19:19—second only to the London Marathon (2:18:17)
  • Gladys Cherono's top-five marathon average is now 2:20:26; only Paula Radcliffe (2:18:04) and Catherine Nderba (2:20:11) have faster averages.
  • 2:08:11 broke the Berlin Marathon course record by more than a minute; Ruti Aga and Tirunesh Dibaba were also under the previous course record.
  • 1:38:04 by Cherono is the fastest 30k split in Berlin

And here are some fun facts from IAAF senior web editor and statistician Jon Mulkeen: