alt Hacker NewsFeel a bit bad for Yomif Kejelcha who also broke the 2-hour mark, with this being his first competition marathon, but managed to neither break a record nor win.
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3rd place runner also set a new world record, but just didn't break the 2-hour barrier.
I'll admit I'm not familiar with running, but in other sports it's not uncommon for amazing early career athletes to hold back a little bit on their first attempts.
It's easier to draw attention (and therefore sponsorships) if you leave some room to improve on successive attempts. It's riskier to give everything up front and then risk plateauing or regressing in your subsequent attempts.
While that seems like a bummer, as long as he doesn't quit he'll have many more chances to set the record himself.
Real "Bad Luck Brian" energy
While I know competitors want to always strive to be the best, as a completely normal human who struggles to complete a half marathon under two hours, I do not feel bad for the guy. He’s still one of the only two people to do it (outside of the very controlled run from Kipchoge). Not a feat to feel bad about at all.