Eliud Kipchoge finishes outside the top five at Boston Marathon 2023 😱

This isn’t something you write very often but arguably the greatest long-distance runner of all time; Eliud Kipchoge, has finished sixth at this year’s Boston Marathon. 

After setting the pace, and looking to still be the comfortable winner of the race for much of the race, Eliud seemingly couldn’t keep up when Tanzanian athlete Gabriel Geay put on the boosters at mile 20. The rain and the headwind seemingly not playing into the world record holders’ favour; he clearly was struggling as the win slipped from his grasp.

Either others could smell a rare victory over the Kenyan or Kipchoghe’s pace simply diminished but he quickly was down in seventh place, only managing to gain one place by the finish line. The win went to Evans Chebet who retained his crown from last year’s Boston.

Eliud was running in a prototype version of the new Nike Alphaflys, which would have been a hot commodity if he had won but with the top three men all wearing the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 3 it begs the question; is Nike’s dominance in the elite field finally over?

He was of course firm favourite to win the race and clock up another on his incredible run of wins so today will go down as the biggest upset of his career. This also puts a huge dent in his incredible record of 19 starts, and 17 wins prior to this race. A rare dent in his armour or the start of a decline for the superstar?  

So what do you think is next for the Kenyan? Will he move into ultramarathons as he has mentioned in the past or focus on what he did wrong and come back even stronger in an autumn marathon? Let us know in the comments down below.