Eliud Kipchoge wins World Sport Star of the Year award
Olympic marathon champion and world marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge has been voted BBC Sports Personality’s World Sport Star of the Year.
Kipchoge became the first person to run a marathon in under two hours in October completing the 26.2 miles (42.2km) in one hour 59 minutes 40 seconds at the Ineos 1:59 Challenge in Vienna, Austria.
Six months before his feat, Kipchoge won the London Marathon for a fourth time.
The 35-year-old runner, who won Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, broke his own London Marathon course record – set in 2016 – by 28 seconds.
The six nominees for this year’s event were revealed on Monday 25 November and topping the online public vote, the legendary marathon runner beat off competition from American gymnast Simone Biles, South Africa’s Rugby World Cup-winning captain Siya Kolisi, Australian cricketer Steve Smith, American golfer Tiger Woods and USA footballer Megan Rapinoe, who co-led her team to World Cup victory again this summer.
Last month, Kipchoge won the 2019 World Athletics Male Athlete of the year beating World Cross Country and World 10,000m champion Joshua Cheptegei from Uganda, World 200m champion Noah Lyles (USA), World 400m hurdles champion Karsten Warholm (Norway) and World pole vault champion Sam Kendricks (USA).