MADRID – Kenyan marathon specialist Eliud Kipchoge has won the Princess of Asturias Prize for Sport 2023, the Spanish foundation that organizes the prizes announced on Thursday.
The 38-year-old Kipchoge, who won Olympic marathon gold medals in 2016 and 2020 and was the 2003 world 5,000-meter champion, “is considered a legend in world athletics and the greatest marathoner of all time,” the foundation’s jury said in a statement.
The foundation emphasized that he is known as “the philosopher” because of his strategy and concentration when running. Kipchoge has won ten editions of four of the major marathons, including four each in London and Berlin.
He is the current Olympic marathon champion and holds the world record for the discipline with a time of 2 hours, 1 minute and 9 seconds, set in Berlin last year. That time cut the record he set himself in 2018 by 30 seconds.
In a statement from Kipchoge, shared by the foundation after the announcement, he said it was an “absolute honor” to receive the award.
“It motivates me in my goal to leave a legacy in this world through running, because a running world is a more peaceful world, a happier world and a healthier world,” he said.
Kipchoge is the only athlete in history to run a marathon in less than two hours, although the time of 1:59:40 set in Vienna in 2019 is not officially recognized as the race was organized in such a way that outside help in could be claimed him.
The EUR 50,000 prize is one of eight prizes awarded for outstanding work in areas such as art, communication, scientific research and literature. They are awarded annually by the foundation.
The Olympic Refugee Foundation and Refugee Olympic Team won the 2022 Sports Award.
The awards are among the most important in the Spanish-speaking world. The award ceremony takes place every autumn in the northern Spanish city of Oviedo.
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