Eluid Kipchoge showed us this weekend that the two hour marathon is within reach. Everything was setup as part of Nike’s #breaking2 initiative to prove that a human could run 26.2 miles in less than 2 hours. Eluid ran faster than any other marathon runner (ever) with a 2.5 minute improvement over fellow Kenyan runner’s Berlin record of 2:02:57 set in 2014. The pace that needed to be held was 4:35 and Kipchoge held a 4:36. He was off by just 1 second per mile.

https://youtu.be/IsL-9i8rd30

Wired has done a great writeup on the event and the physical requirements needed to perform at this elite level. Their six minute video below suggests that Vo2Max, lactate threshold and running economy are the most important physical attributes. The event itself which was held in Monzo, Italy was just slightly warmer and more humid than was hoped for. The weather was 53F with 79% humidity versus the desired less than 50F and under 70% humidity. Nike has more about the Science behind the attempt.