How Peres Jepchirchir accidentally made her debut over the marathon

Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir has narrated how she 'accidentally' made her marathon debut at the Kisumu Safaricom Marathon.

Reigning Olympic marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir never intended to make her debut in the marathon back in 2013 since she had just begun her professional career.

She had started off her professional career with 10km road races in South Africa and had performed pretty well for a newbie.

Jepchirchir, 20 at the time, jetted back to the country for her last race, a 10km road race in Kisumu, the Kisumu Safaricom Marathon but she was shocked on arrival.

Speaking to World Athletics, Jepchirchir explained that when she got there, she was told the 10km road race was only for the residents of Kisumu and she had to run the marathon.

The former New York City Marathon champion did not disappoint despite being a newbie since she dominated and won the race in fashion. She clocked 2:47:33 to win the race.

“I was going there for the 10k and then I arrived and the 10k was only for people from that area. I remember it a lot because I ran that first marathon without any long runs,” she recalled.

After her triumph at the marathon back in 2013, Jepchirchir did not immediately start running the 42km distance since there was a lot she had to learn.

She became serious about the marathon in 2019 when she ran her second marathon, the Saitama International Marathon, where she won the race dominantly too.

Jepchirchir then went ahead and dominated the Valencia Marathon in 2020 before bagging the Olympic marathon and New York City marathon titles in 2021.

In 2022, she won the Boston Marathon in style and became the first woman to have won the Olympic, New York City, and Boston Marathon titles. After her Boston Marathon triumph, the now 30-year-old suffered an injury setback that saw her pull out of the New York City Marathon.

She opened her season this year with a third-place finish but has since insisted that she is injury-free and will be looking to dominate at the New York City Marathon.

“I was happy because I was able to train for only two months when I was preparing for London, so for me, I was happy because I was coming back," she said. 

posted Tuesday October 24th
by Abigael Wuafula