TCS World 10K run: Breaking 2 fails in ambitious bid

Bengaluru: It’s been an interesting month for Alex Korio. It started with a role as a pacer in Nike’s Breaking 2 endeavour and 15 days later the Kenyan is now sitting pretty as the winner of the TCS World 10K Run Bangalore.

Despite the obvious financial success and boost in reputation following the victory in the race, it is the Breaking 2 that is more intriguing. In the end, Nike’s attempt to create history by trying to finish a full marathon under two hours fell short. And narrowly so.

The sports apparel company had carefully selected Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge, Ethiopia’s Lelisa Desisa and Eritrea’s Zersenay Tadese for the challenge set in the Monza circuit in Italy, again chosen for strategic purposes.

Armed with the new Zoom Vaporfly Elite shoes in a carefully controlled environment, the trio set out to improve on the world record of 2:02:57 set by Kenyan Dennis Kipruto Kimetto.

While they were successful in reducing the time, with Kipchoge coming in at 2:00:25 seconds, they fell short of their target by 25 seconds. Setting pace for that event as part of the purple group was Korio.

“There were 32 pacers and I was one among them,” recalled Korio after his victory in Bengaluru. “I did three loops of 5km each after taking a break. My pace was 2 minutes 50 seconds per kilometres.”

With sport science now encroaching into all facets of sport, including apparels that assist the athlete, the Kenyan is sure that finishing the 42.2 km race under two hours is a possibility.

“It was very windy, so that could be the reason why we couldn’t break the magical mark. In future it’s possible,” he stressed. The record however does not stand as the entire race was held in a controlled environment with specific tools.