Eliud Kipchoge on Pressure

I’m looking forward to watching Eliud Kipchoge do battle against the rest of the best in the world on September 24 in Berlin. The reigning Olympic gold medalist will trade blows with the likes of Kenenisa Bekele and former marathon world-record holder Wilson Kipsang, amongst a handful of other sub-2:05 men. With so many top-ranked heavyweights in the fight, the current marathon world-record of 2:02:57 is in danger of being obliterated.

This short read on how Kipchoge handles the pressure of expectations was interesting, insightful and humanizing.

“The greatest challenge of my career has been learning how to handle the pressure,” Kipchoge admits to Steve Landells for the IAAF. “In my younger days, I used to struggle. I couldn’t sleep before races and I couldn’t eat on the morning of my race. I used to find the tension before a race really hard. I used to put myself under too much pressure and the tension built up.”

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