Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge named UN Person of the Year

Kenyan superstar runner Eliud Kipchoge has been named as the UN Person of the Year by the United Nations team in Kenya.

Kipchoge, 33, is regarded as the greatest marathon runner of the modern era.

He set a new marathon record in September with a time of two hours one minute 39 seconds in Berlin.

Kipchoge burst onto the international sporting scene at the age of 18, winning the U20 race at the World Cross Country Championships in 2003.

In 2012, he started his marathon career with a victory in Germany’s Hamburg. The former 5,000-meter race world champion has won 11 of the 12 marathons he has run, including at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The world marathon record holder has been recognised for his “extraordinary sports performances, his work on HIV/Aids in Kenya, his endurance, his courage” which embody the ideals of the UN, Unesco tweeted.

Austin Ohaegbu

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