Eliud Kipchoge failed in his bid to set a third straight world record at the Berlin marathon on Sunday after winning in an unofficial time of two hours, 04.01 minutes.

Kenya's Kipchoge had targeted compatriot Dennis Kimetto's world record of 2:02:57 set in Germany's capital last year, which in turn had bettered Wilson Kipsang's previous record of 2:03:23 from 2013.

It was not to be for Kipchoge, this year's London marathon winner, who was hampered by a problem with his shoes early on, but still went on to run the world's fastest marathon time this year and a personal best.

"At some point, the sole came out of my shoe, but I had no time to sort it out and it made things hard as it gave me some pain," explained Kipchoge.

"It wasn't pleasant on impact with the ground during the race.

"I am happy to have run my personal best, but I had wanted to run the world record.

"I will come back to try again next year."