'I want to go under 2:08' - Lipschitz still hungry for more

Following an impressive 2:08:45 marathon personal best time, South African marathoner Adam Lipschitz has set his sights on going even faster next year. 30-year-old Lipschitz did the country proud running the best time by a South African this year when he smashed his PB by over four minutes when he took 25th position at the Valencia Marathon last weekend with a time that ranks 10th on the country's all time list. He says his preparations for the race went well and he managed to stick to the plan.

"I'm happy with my time. I had planned to go with the Sub 2:10 group. I felt good for the most part of the race but somehow I slowed down a bit because the 2:10 group was too fast," he told #TheTopRunner. "I did negative splits because my first half was 1:04:50 then the second half was 1:04:04. I felt strong in the last first 5km as I ran 14:26 and my last 10km was 29:48. I was in great shape. It was a great run."

Lipschitz on his way to a superb 2:08:45 personal best at the 2024 Valencia Marathon. Photo Credit: Supplied.

Lipschitz says he learnt from the mistakes he made at the same race last year where he clocked 2:13:01. His plan this time around was to limit those mistakes. As an athlete who is employed to pace many of the top European marathons, he believes that his 2023 experience was a huge factor in determining his outstanding performance in Valencia this year.

 "Obviously, I messed up my first marathon in Valencia last year where I went with the 2:08 group then came up short in the last 8/10km. At that time I hadn't done a marathon before so I didn't understand the nutrition. Since then, I have done nine 40km training runs including Chicago and the Cape Town Marathon and with every one I understood the nutrition better," said, the man who holds 1:01:31 half marathon lifetime best.

Lipschitz look strong during the final third of the marathon in Valencia. Photo Credit: Supplied.

With World Championships scheduled to take place in Tokyo, Japan next year, Lipschitz has not set his mind on dipping below the stringent 2:06:30 marathon time to qualify. But instead, the Durban-based top runner says his goal is to simply to improve on his performance in Spain and he is confident that he can do it.

"I think I could have gone faster in Valencia because at the end I still had something in the tank. To represent the country (Tokyo World Championships) is not the main focus at the moment. My focus is get my time down as I want to go under 2:08. In my next marathon I plan to run maybe 2:07:30 but anything below 2:08 would be good. Now I'm going to either do the London Marathon or the Rotterdam Marathon but probably it will be London. We will see," he said.