Watch: 1:59 Challenge with Eliud Kipchoge

We’ve hit the hour-mark with 11 seconds to spare. The projected finish time is currently 1:59:48.

There’s a fantastic crowd lining the streets of Vienna today too, plenty of cheering and hollering as Kipchoge passes on each lap. They’re hyped.

Starmer: It’s an interesting experiment, but agree it should not be a world record. Banked corners, and a rotating team of pacemakers, in a fixed formation to maximise slipstreaming, means this is very much assisted.

Claire Hughes: Loving the pacemaker handovers. If this comes off, this *individual* record will go down as the greatest ever team event.

TheMuddyCyclist: If he does this it will be up there with breaking the 4 minute mile. Not convinced he’ll make it, but excited to find out.

He might be the greatest marathoner of all time, but Eliud Kipchoge leads a modest life at his running camp in Kenya’s Rift Valley, where he stays with around 30 other athletes.

They set off at dawn for the first of two daily training sessions and spend the rest of the time resting, reading and eating.

“I don’t think I am different. I am trying my best to live a modest life,” he said.

“I am a simple person, I try to stay calm and focus on what I do. There are no distractions.”

Tottenham could do with a new box-to-box midfielder…

Here’s Spencer Barden, elite director for the London Marathon, who picked and trained the packemakers: “So far all is going to plan. Early days yet, still a long way to go but the exchanges have gone very well so far.

“We did a lot of work looking at formations, what was best for Eliud and what would give him the best protection. We have a fantastic group of world-class athletes so they are relishing the opportunity.

“They are experienced and know what they’re doing. The important thing is not to trip each other and not trip Eliud. We’re in a good place.”

Eliud Kipchoge first attempted the feat in May 2017 on the Monza National Autodrome racing circuit in Italy, finishing in a time of 2 hours and 25 seconds.

Kipchoge says he is mentally stronger now and he is “confident” that he can get it “the second time”.

“My training has been the same, my coach has been the same, my management, everything has been the same. Now the thinking is different,” he said.

“I feel more prepared. I feel more ready.”

Rob: Asking “will or won’t it be a world record” just belittles the achievement. You can get a world record for eating baked beans with a cocktail stick so this doesn’t deserve to be in that book. It’s amazing. Hopefully he does it in 1:58.

Interesting point, Rob, because my dad once challenged me to eat a jar of pickled onions in world-record time. I managed half, of one…

New York City Marathon winner 2017 Shalane Flanagan: “The pacemakers are looking to be part of something bigger than themselves today…

“The splits are fluctuating but that’s nothing to worry about right now. When you begin the race is 10k to go, this is all setting up the stage, the foundation.”

The attempt takes place in a huge park where the path has been specially prepared to make it as even as possible.

The surface has been partly retarred and prepared with a banked corner that can save time and avoid injury.

The 42.195-kilometre (26.219-miles) stretch has been prepared so that it should take Kipchoge about 4.5 seconds more than a computer-simulated completely flat and straight course, according to an analysis by sports experts at Vienna University.

Experts say he will only have to descend 26 metres in altitude and climb 12 metres.

Jasdeep Mudhar: Eliud Kipchoge’s attempt at breaking the 2 hour mark should be recognised as a world record. He deserves it. All that hard work.

Andy France: Got to be a world record, he’s not using technology to enhance his performance, like a motor in a bicycle, just to show where he needs to be in terms of pace. Clever use of the man in front to get in his slip stream. Will be a superhuman effort, needs to be acknowledged.

Another smooth changeover for the pacemaker team.

This leg includes Norway’s three Ingebrigtsen brothers – Henrik, Jakob and Filip – who have just been competing at the World Athletics Championships in Doha.

Why now? Why Vienna? Why this time in the morning?

It’s all to do with the weather…

“The current conditions are looking to be optimal for temperature, humidity, wind and precipitation for this Saturday morning,” said Robby Ketchell, who leads the weather analysis for the organisers.

Ketchell said the temperature are expected to be between five and nine degrees Celsius between 05:00 and 08:00 local time.

“After 08:00 the temperature is looking like it will rise slightly, and humidity will drop slightly.

“For the Challenge we need a 24-hour window of no rain to keep all the surfaces dry and that is currently looking to be the case for Saturday too.”

Ineos chief Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the man funding the challenge, is up bright and early in Vienna to witness the attempt, but how did the idea come about?

“We were on a motorbike trip in South America having a beer and it popped out of conversation,” he said.

“I have met quite a few of the pacers and they’re buzzing for the whole challenge, but normally they’re running for themselves – it’s almost a different sport for them to come together and work for a common cause.

“It’s the last great barrier in athletics – it’s unthinkable, it’s super-human to be able to run at that speed for 42km.”

The first big landmark in this run – the 5km mark.

Eliud Kipchoge is looking good and currently nine seconds under the target time – this pace would bring the Kenyan home in 1:59:50.

Got time to stop for a cheeky cuppa.

We’ve had our first change in the pacemaker team – very smooth indeed.

There are 41 support runners – chosen from the best athletes in the world – in total helping Eliud Kichoge today.