At the 2014 Berlin marathon, Kenya's Dennis Kimetto beat everyone who has ever run the 42.2-kilometre race, blazing his way to a new world record time of 2:02.57. Shaving 26 seconds off the previous best was an extraordinary achievement, particularly for a man who only began training seriously in 2010. And yet Kimetto was 3 minutes off the 2-hour mark - the fabled barrier considered by many as the greatest challenge left in sport. Sports scientists will give you a familiar list of what is required to break that barrier: as high an oxygen capacity as has ever been recorded, impeccable running economy, a pancake-flat course, perfect temperatures and top-notch pacemakers. But perhaps that is not the whole story.
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