Eliud Kipchoge

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Eliud Kipchoge
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Personal information
Born (1984-11-05) 5 November 1984 (age 39)
Weight 52 kg (115 lb)
Sport
Country Kenya
Sport Athletics

Eliud Kipchoge (born 5 November 1984 in Kapsisiywa, Nandi District) is a Kenyan long distance runner who has won medals at Olympic and World level.

He came to prominence in 2003 by winning the junior race at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, setting a world junior record over 5000 metres on the track and then becoming world champion at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics. An Olympic 5000 m bronze for Kenya followed at the 2004 Athens Olympics and he took another bronze at the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships.

A series of silver medals came, starting at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics before another runner-up placing at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He was fifth at the 2009 World Championships but again reached the podium at the 2010 Commonwealth Games; he was second behind Moses Kipsiro in the 5000 metres. He has won four medals at editions of the annual IAAF World Athletics Final and is a five-time 5000 m finalist at the World Championships.

His 3000 metres best of 7:27.72 ranks him among the top ten at the distance and his 5000 m best of 12:46.53 makes him the fourth fastest ever in the event.[1] He began to move towards road running in 2012 and set a half marathon best of 59:25 minutes. He then won the 2013 Hamburg Marathon with a very fast finishing time of 2:05:30 hours. He improved on this later that year, at the Berlin Marathon, running 2:04:05, the fifth-fastest marathon in history at the time. He won the London Marathon in 2015.[2] He also won the Berlin Marathon in 2015 in 2:04:00, improving his personal best by 5 seconds.

Career

2002–2004

Kipchoge graduated from Kaptel Secondary School in 1999 but did not run seriously then. In 2002, he won at the Kenyan trials for the 2002 IAAF World Cross Country Championships junior race. At the World Cross Country Championships, held in Dublin, Kipchoge finished fifth in the individual race and was part on the Kenyan junior team that won gold. Kipchoge also won the 5000 metres race at the Kenyan trial for the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics, but got ill and missed the championships. At the 2003 IAAF World Cross Country Championships he won the junior race.

Kipchoge won a gold medal at the 5000 m final at the 2003 World Championships, beating runner-up Hicham El Guerrouj by four hundredths of a second (12:52.79 vs. 12:52.83).[3]

Kipchoge later won a bronze medal at the 5000 m final at the 2004 Athens Olympics, behind El Guerrouj and Kenenisa Bekele.[4] He also won the Trofeo Alasport cross country race earlier that season.

World and Olympic medals

Kipchoge won the bronze in the 3000 metres indoor at the 2006 World Championships in Moscow. At the end of the year, he ran at the San Silvestre Vallecana New Year's Eve 10 km road race and he just held off Zersenay Tadese to win in a time of 26.54 minutes. This was better than the world record, but the time was assisted by the downhill course.[5]

Kipchoge won a silver medal at the 5000 m final of the 2007 World Championships at Osaka in 13:46.00, behind Bernard Lagat (13:45.87).[6]

During the 2008 Olympics held in Beijing, China, Kipchoge won a silver medal in the 5000m event with a time of 13:02.80 which was better than the previous Olympic record of 13:05.59 but it was not enough to match Kenenisa Bekele's pace, who won the gold medal for this race.[7] He failed to reach the podium at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, finishing in fifth place and he also finished ninth in the 3000 m at the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final. On the circuit, he won the Great Yorkshire Run 10K and Campaccio Cross Country that year.

2010–11 seasons

He made his debut on the 2010 IAAF Diamond League by winning the 5000 m Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix in a meet record time.[8] Kipchoge made a world best attempt at the 2010 Carlsbad 5000 road race and, although he won the race, weather affected his chances and he finished in 13:11, the fourth fastest ever for the course.[9]

In the first athletics final of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, he attempted to win the 5000 m Commonwealth title. Ugandan runner Moses Kipsiro held a slender lead over him in the final stages of the race and Kipchoge ended up in second place, taking the silver medal some seven hundredths of a second behind.[10][11] He flew back to Europe immediately after to take part in the Belgrade Race Through History the following day. His shoe fell off in the first kilometre and, after putting it back on, he made up much ground on the field to eventually take second place two seconds behind Josphat Menjo.[12]

At the start of 2011, he won the short race at the Great Edinburgh Cross Country, ahead of Asbel Kiprop.[13] He attempted to retain his title at the Carlsbad 5000 in April but came a close second behind Dejen Gebremeskel.[14] Kipchoge was chosen to represent Kenya at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics and reached the 5000 m final for the fifth consecutive time, although he only managed seventh place on this occasion.

Move to road events

Kipchoge returned to the Edinburgh Cross Country in 2012, but this time he finished third behind Asbel Kiprop and Britain's Jonathan Hay.[15] He was also third at the Carlsbad 5000 in March.[16] He attempted to gain a place on the 10,000 m Olympic team at the Prefontaine Classic, but fell back in the late stages of the Kenyan trial race, finishing seventh.[17] A seventh-place finish in the Kenyan 5000 m trial race meant he would not make a third consecutive Olympic team.[18] As a result, he changed his focus to a half marathon debut and, after running a time of 59:25 minutes for third at the Lille Half Marathon,[19] he entered the 2012 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships and placed sixth.[20]

Kipchoge opened his 2013 season with a win at the Barcelona Half Marathon in a time of one hour and four seconds.[21] Making his marathon debut in April, he demonstrated a perfect transition to the longer distance by taking the Hamburg Marathon title with a run of 2:05:30 hours – beating the field by over two minutes and setting a new course record.[22] In August 2013 he won the Half Marathon of Klagenfurt in 61:02 minutes.[23] Then, he raced in the Berlin Marathon, hoping to improve his 2:05:30 personal best from the Hamburg Marathon, and he finished second in 2:04:05, the fifth fastest time in history, behind Wilson Kipsang, who set a new Marathon World Record. This made him the fifth fastest marathon runner in history, in only his second ever marathon.

Major achievements

Competition Rank Time Place Date Notes
2003 World Championships 1st 12:52.79 (5000 m) Paris 31 August Only 18 at the time.
2004 Summer Olympics 3rd 13:15.10 (5000 m) Athens 28 August Finished 3rd to El Guerrouj and Bekele
2006 World Indoor Championships 3rd 7:42.58 (3000 m) Moscow 12 March 1st Kenenisa Bekele (7:39.32)
2007 World Championships 2nd 13:46.00 (5000 m) Osaka 2 September 1st Bernard Lagat(13:45.87)
2008 Summer Olympics 2nd 13:02.80 (5000 m) Beijing 23 August 1st Kenenisa Bekele (12:57.82 OR)
Road events
2013 Hamburg Marathon 1st 2:05:30 (Marathon) Hamburg 21 April Marathon debut.
2013 Berlin Marathon 2nd 2:04:05 (Marathon) Berlin 29 September 1st Wilson Kipsang (2:03:23 WR)
2014 Rotterdam Marathon 1st 2:05:00 (Marathon) Rotterdam 13 April
2014 Chicago Marathon 1st 2:04:11 (Marathon) Chicago 12 October
2015 London Marathon 1st 2:04:42 (Marathon) London 26 April
2015 Berlin Marathon 1st 2:04:00 (Marathon) Berlin 27 September

Personal bests outdoor

Distance Time (min) Date Location
1500 m 3:33.20 31 May 2004 Hengelo
Mile run 3:50.40 30 July 2004 London
3000 m 7:27.66 6 May 2011 Doha
Two miles (indoor) 8:07.39 18 February 2012 Birmingham
5000 m 12:46.53 2 July 2004 Roma
10,000 m 26:49.02 26 May 2007 Hengelo
Half marathon 59:25 1 September 2012 Lille
Marathon 2:04:00 27 September 2015 Berlin

All Information taken from IAAF profile.[24]

References

  1. 5000 Metres All Time. IAAF (4 October 2010). Retrieved on 15 October 2010.
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. 2003 World Championships Unheralded Kipchoge salvages Kenyan pride – IAAF
  4. El Guerrouj completes historic double
  5. Kipchoge breaks 27 minute barrier in Madrid – IAAF
  6. 2007 World Championships 5000m results – IAAF
  7. 2008 Olympics 5000m results--Runner's World
  8. Ramsak, Bob (14 May 2010). Rudisha and Powell impress as IAAF Diamond League kicks off in Doha – Report. IAAF. Retrieved on 15 October 2010.
  9. Cruz, Dan (12 April 2010). Defar and Kipchoge prevail in Carlsbad. IAAF. Retrieved on 12 April 2010.
  10. Commonwealth Games 2010: Kipsiro wins 5,000m gold. BBC Sport (6 October 2010). Retrieved on 6 October 2010.
  11. Rowbottom, Mike (12 October 2010). India sweeps women’s Discus Throw, Langat and Kipsiro complete doubles – Commonwealth Games Day Six. IAAF. Retrieved on 15 October 2010.
  12. Butcher, Pat (13 October 2010). Menjo takes five seconds off course record in Belgrade. IAAF. Retrieved on 15 October 2010.
  13. Wenig, Jorg (8 January 2011). Kipchoge and Masai prevail in snowy Edinburgh. IAAF. Retrieved on 9 January 2011.
  14. Cruz, Dan (4 April 2011). Gebremeskel and Kiros take Carlsbad 5Km victories. IAAF. Retrieved on 9 April 2011.
  15. Wenig, Jorg (7 January 2012). Kiprop triumphs in race of champions, Bekele a distant 11th – Edinburgh XC report. IAAF. Retrieved on 8 January 2012.
  16. Rosenthal, Bert (2 April 2012). Gebremeskel, Dibaba Win Carlsbad 5000. IAAF. Retrieved on 3 April 2012.
  17. Gains, Paul (2 June 2012). Dibaba 30:24.39 and Kiprop 27:01.98 on stunning but wet first night in Eugene – Samsung Diamond League. IAAF. Retrieved on 3 June 2012.
  18. Mutuota, Mutwiri (23 June 2012). Rudisha runs 1:42.12 at altitude – Kenyan Olympic Trials. IAAF. Retrieved on 24 June 2012.
  19. Ramsak, Bob & Juck, Alfons (2 September 2012). Chebii clocks 59:05 course record in Lille Half Marathon. IAAF. Retrieved on 19 January 2013.
  20. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. Results. MitjaBarcelona. Retrieved on 22 April 2013.
  22. Minshull, Phil (21 April 2013). Kipchoge makes marvellous Marathon debut with 2:05:30 course record in Hamburg. IAAF. Retrieved on 22 April 2013.
  23. [1]
  24. IAAF, Kipchoge Eliud biography: Eliud Kipchoge biography

External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by Men's 3,000 m best year performance
2004–2005
Succeeded by
Kenya Isaac Kiprono Songok
Preceded by Men's 3,000 m best year performance
2009
Succeeded by
Ethiopia Tariku Bekele