Once-in-a-generation…

Growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, I’m not sure how much my peers and I appreciated the context of just how once-in-a-generation Michael Jordan’s playing was. How could we? It was clear that he was incredible, and his presence in the NBA was all we knew and that was just how the game was. In the decades since, many outstanding players have followed but many, maybe most, still argue that Jordan’s the greatest player ever.

Probably many runners in their formative years during the past decade won’t fully appreciate the dominance of Eliud Kipchoge at the marathon. To be fair to them, if his streak is all they know, then it’s how the sport is.

Some wondered if COVID delaying the Tokyo Olympics by a year would diminish Kipchoge’s chances of repeating as the Olympic gold medalist, and his eighth-place finish at London in 2020 reinforced those questions. He crushed the field in Tokyo, winning by eighty seconds.

Another COVID quirk is that the major marathons’ schedules have gotten scrambled and this has affected their elite fields in unusual ways. All six 2021 major marathons were held this past fall which effectively limited elite runners to one major for the year, instead of two. However, the 2022 Boston and Tokyo marathons are being held this spring and because they’re the only two, the elite fields for both are stunning. Even more fun? Kipchoge will run a major for the first time since 2014 that’s not Berlin or London. He has selected Tokyo which is this weekend, 6 March for Japan and 5 March for the U.S. (As an added bonus, both Tokyo and Boston are easier for US fans to watch, since Boston’s on Eastern Standard time and Japan’s early morning correlates to our late evening.)

If Kipchoge wins Tokyo, he will have crossed the line first at four majors (he won Chicago in 2014) and he would be a big step closer to winning all six. The logical thought is that he would do New York next fall and then Boston in spring of 2023. Of course, he still has to win this weekend.

The race starts at 5:10 p.m. mountain standard time in the U.S. (LetsRun.com has an excellent preview) so we’ll know by a little after 7:00 if Kipchoge has maintained his unprecedented run of dominance.