Eliud Kipchoge

Eliud Kipchoge is considered one of the best marathon runners in the world and has set numerous records over the years. However, his career in his younger years started from an emergency situation and he had to fight his way from the bottom to the top. Kipchoge won an Olympic medal four times. He went down in history as the first person to run a marathon in under two hours and the Kenyan became world champion in the 5000 meter race at the age of just 18. Despite his many successes, Eliud Kipchoge has remained an extremely modest person and continues to impress with his down-to-earth lifestyle.

Eliud Kipchoge once again made history at the Berlin Marathon on 25 September 2022: he beat his own world record from 2018 with a time of 2:01:09. He reached the half marathon mark after just 59:51 minutes. In 2023, this record was beaten by Kelvin Kiptum (2:00:35 in Chicago). In 2024, Kipchoge missed out on a third marathon victory at the Olympic Games in Paris, but remained active and competed against the world's elite again at the London Marathon in 2025 at the age of 40 - with a view to setting new age group records.

Eliud Kipchoge is regarded as one of the best marathon runners in the world and has broken one world record after another in recent years. But this was not always the case. The marathon runner grew up in poor circumstances and had to work hard to make his way to the top of the world's runners. Even the disease malaria could not deter him from his plans. It is precisely because this disease plays a major role in Eliud Kipchoge's life that he is working with the "Zero Malaria" organization to fight and eradicate malaria. For us, he is a real role model from whom we can learn strength of will and perseverance.

Eliud Kipchoge had not originally planned to pursue a career as a marathon runner; instead, he wanted to study human resources management. However, this dream remained unfulfilled as his family did not have the necessary money to enable him to study. So Eliud Kipchoge looked for a way to earn money and started running.

Even as a child, he was used to marching many kilometers to school and in the highlands of Kenya, a runner has the chance to earn a regular income - and so Kipchoge started running at the age of 16. His hard training paid off: Kipochge won the Junior World Championship title as well as several victories in cross-country and also on the track. He gradually developed into one of the best marathon runners of all time.

Kipchoge has remained incredibly modest despite his countless successes, which are associated with high prize money. He still lives with his family in Kenya in Eldoret and trains from Monday to Saturday in a nearby training camp in Kaptagat. There is nothing resembling luxury accommodation here and the runners live a simple, uncomplicated and down-to-earth life.

They cook their own meals, take care of the cleanliness of their rooms and fetch their drinking water from a nearby well - including millionaire Kipchoge. On Sundays, the world record holder prefers to go to church with his wife and three children. Religion plays a very important role in his life so as not to be deterred from his goals. And his fortune? The marathon runner has invested it down-to-earth in a farm and other real estate.