MADRID (AP) — Kenyan marathon specialist Eliud Kipchoge has won the Princess of Asturias Award for sports for 2023, the Spanish foundation that organizes the prizes said Thursday.

Kipchoge, 38, who took Olympic gold medals in the marathon in 2016 and 2020 and was world 5,000 meters champion in 2003 “is considered a legend in world athletics and the best marathon runner of all time,” the foundation panel of judges said in the press release.

The foundation highlighted that he is known as “the philosopher” for his strategy and concentration in running. Kipchoge has won 10 of the world's major Marathons, including London and Berlin four times each.

He is the current Olympic marathon champion and holds the world record for the discipline, with a time of 2:01:09 set in Berlin last year. That timing lowered by 30 seconds the record he himself had set in 2018.

Kipchoge is the only athlete in history who has run a marathon in less than two hours, although the timing of 1:59:40 set in Vienna in 2019 is not recognized officially as the race was organized so outside aid could be used to help him.

The 50,000-euro award ($54,000) is one of eight prizes awarded for outstanding work in areas such as the arts, communication, scientific research and literature. They are handed out annually by the foundation.

The Olympic Refugee Foundation and the refugee Olympics team won the sports award in 2022.

The prizes are among the most important in the Spanish-speaking world. The award ceremony is held each fall in the northern Spanish city of Oviedo.