The Atlantic magazine, a US-based digital publication, attracted the wrath of Kenyans after its editor wrote and published a story that seemed to trample on Kipchoge's Saturday, October 12, legendary fete.
The health editor ran his story with a headline that read, 'The Greatest, Fakest World Record'.
Paul Bisceglio, the health editor of the international news organisation termed Kipchoge's comparison of running 42km in under two hours to that of Neil Armstrong, audacious.
He further added that "in the galaxy of running, such a comparison might be an understatement." Paul credited Kipchoge's feat to a technical-assisted achievement that was boosted by immense planning and support.
"It was so heavily engineered that his new time will not count as a world record," Paul wrote.
He termed the planning that went into the organisation of the INEOS 1:59 challenge as a fantasy of perfectionism.
"Looked at one way, the INEOS 1:59 Challange is a straightforward testament to how money can buy anything, including a branded sub-two-hour marathon," Paul further said in his opinion piece.
A majority of Kenyans felt offended by the opinion piece and regarded it as an offensive article.
@kenhesser tweeted, "what garbage take. Marathon WRs are always going to be "tainted" by the conditions, course, etc. Calling the achievement "fake" is offensive."
Lawrencemungai replied, "This was the greatest race in athletics history. The race against time!"
"You don't have to say or write everything you think," AchiengOnguru responded.
A section of Kenyans were of the opinion that the article was racist.
Moses Tula Chelanga tweeted, "focus on Trump's impeachment. American Media has nothing positive about black achievements!"
@Peter Nyaundi replied: As if Americans landed on the moon barefoot!
Peter Onyango @psonyango tweeted, "hii record inauma wazungu sana..."
@I_am_Gathoni responded, "where were those thoughts BEFORE the race? Bile because a black man did it!"
IreneNM tweeted, "Kenyans used to run without shoes before all these hi-tech shoes were invented. They still won. You won't spoil for Kipchoge the way you guys whitewashed Semenya's success."
A number of Kenyans were, however, in agreement in their responses.
Riaz Gilani tweeted, "Under IAAF race conditions, access to such beverages is not unfettered. As Kenyans, we are proud of the achievements of our star athletes. However, we must concede that this challenge did not take place under IAAF conditions."
