It’s human nature to push boundaries, to continue to learn, develop and achieve more. It’s also human nature to put limits on yourself and others. 

Some of the world’s most inspirational people involved in sport have come together to tell their own personal stories of why no human is limited ahead of Eliud Kipchoge’s attempt to break the two hour marathon barrier next month in Vienna. 

It is this philosophy that is shared by INEOS and an exceptional group of men and women involved in sport, that has today, 13th September, inspired the launch of No Human is Limited.

Eliud Kipchoge, World and Olympic marathon holder: “Any human being can go beyond their limits. No human being should be limited in their thoughts, in what he or she should be doing. Self-belief is crucial”

Chris Froome, four times Tour de France winner: “I don’t like to think in terms of limits…I believe that limits shouldn’t be set in sport as I believe this would change the mentality for a lot of sportsmen, a lot of coaches and certainly the way that people perceive sport”

Sir Ben Ainslie, greatest ever Olympic sailor and America’s Cup winner: “To achieve your extraordinary requires grit, determination and an open mind. It’s amazing what can be accomplished when you don’t set limits.”

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, INEOS Founder and Chairman: “People have often got brakes on in their head, when you take the brakes off it’s remarkable what you can achieve”

On October 12th in Vienna, Kipchoge plans to redefine the limits of human achievement by breaking the last great barrier of modern athletics - the sub-two hour marathon.

The Kenyan 34-year-old already holds the world record for the marathon with a time of 2:01:39 set in Berlin in 2018. He is the reigning Olympic champion for the marathon and has won the London Marathon four times, the Berlin Marathon on three occasions and the Chicago Marathon once.

Kipchoge has the self-belief that he can break through this barrier and has spent the last six months meticulously training and preparing for the INEOS 1:59 Challenge. 

His legacy may be one for the history books, but Eliud also wants to inspire every person to believe that there are no limits.

Named after Kipchoge’s personal mantra, No Human is Limited, the aim is to encourage people from across the world to embrace this philosophy, to break down their own barriers, sporting or otherwise and believe no one is limited in their lives.

No Human is Limited is supported by a team of high-profile ambassadors who will reveal their own inspirational stories over the coming weeks and, along with Kipchoge, encourage people from around the world to share their own stories of what they have to hope to achieve. Eliud believes these stories will in turn further inspire him to achieve what some have thought impossible.

The ambassadors include four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome, the greatest Olympic sailor in history Sir Ben Ainslie, long distance runner and Kipchoge’s team mate Abdi Nageeye, Olympic gold medal-winning Alpine skier Hermann Maier, the inspirational founder of The Daily Mile getting hundreds of thousands of children running across the world, Elaine Wyllie and more to be announced ahead of 12th October.

The first ambassador to share his story is the greatest Grand Tour rider of his generation Chris Froome.  The Team INEOS rider has won the Tour de France four times, the Vuelta a Espana twice and the Giro d’Italia once, but his career was nearly ended when he was involved in a crash at the Criterium du Dauphine in June [2019].

Froome, who like Kipchoge was born in Kenya, is determined to show that No Human is Limited by recovering fully from that crash and return to the highest level of bike racing and win his fifth Tour de France in 2020.

He said: “I don’t like to think in terms of limits…I believe that limits shouldn’t be set in sport as I believe this would change the mentality for a lot of sportsmen, a lot of coaches and certainly the way that people perceive sport”.  Watch Chris’s full No Human Is Limited story here.

Who sets the limits anyway?

The INEOS 1:59 Challenge is scheduled to take place in The Prater, Vienna, on Saturday 12 October with a period from the 13th to 20th October set aside as reserve days should weather conditions not be favourable.