‘I wish I Could Have Done That’ - Eliud Kipchoge Reveals Biggest Career Regret

As Eliud Kipchoge embarks on the next chapter of his career, there are still some things that he feels he could have done better during his storied running journey.

Kipchoge achieved his dream of running in all seven major marathons when he competed in the New York Marathon on Sunday, finishing 17th, and he announced that he will not retire but now run for a purpose.

The Kenyan legend, who turned 41 on Wednesday, now plans to run a marathon in every continent in the next two years, not for records or medals but to inspire others and raise funds for charity.

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Christened the “The Eliud Kipchoge World Tour,” the two-time Olympics marathon champion believes “the only way to serve humanity in this world is to run across all seven continents, preaching the gospel of running,” terming it transition, not retirement.

For a man who has run 21 major marathon races, winning 11 of them, and broken world records twice, many would feel that Kipchoge has no regrets, but he does.

However, what he looks back with disappointment is his stint on track and not on the road, having started out as a 3,000m and then 5000m runner before switching to marathons.

Kipchoge won the 5,000m world title in 2003 and then silver three years later while he managed Olympics bronze and silver over the distance at the Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Games.

It is during this stint that Kipchoge feels he should have done way better than what he managed and it leaves him with some regrets even now that he is a highly respected and admired runner across the globe.

“My biggest regret is that I did not win gold in the 5,000m,” Kipchoge told Olympics.com in a recent interview. “I always feel I missed the world record for 5,000 metres. I wish I could have done that, and maybe run a 10-kilometre world record on the road. In the marathon, I did not miss anything,” he added.

Winning 5,000m gold has been tough for Kenyan runners over the years, and not just Kipchoge, as the last world title over the distance was claimed by Daniel Komen in 1997 while the Olympics crown has not been clinched since John Ngugi’s heroics at the 1988 Seoul Games.

Komen also held the world record (12:39.74) from August 1997 to June 1998 when Ethiopian great Haile Gebrselassie broke it, running a time of 12:39.36 in Helsinki, Finland, but it was another Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele lowering it in May 2004, running 12:37.35 in Hangelo, Netherlands, when Kipchoge was in his prime.

Bekele’s 5,000m world record stood until August 2020 when Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei broke it, running 12:35.36 in Monaco.