Running News Daily

Indefatigable Edna Kiplagat to tackle Boston course again, at 43

It is commonly said that age is nothing but a number.

At 43 years old, two-time world marathon champion Edna Kiplagat will be out to prove that when she lines up among the elite athletes for the 127th Boston Marathon race on April 17 in the USA.

She will be heading to Boston for the sixth time where she is optimistic of good results after training for the last four months.

Nation Sport caught up with her at Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County while she was doing her speed session in readiness for the race.

Maiden win

Kiplagat won the title at her first attempt in Boston in 2017. She returned the following year but finished ninth, in 2019 she was second. The 2020 edition was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

She went back in 2021, finishing second behind Diana Kipyokei, but was later declared the winner after Kipyokei was banned for using a banned substance.

Kiplagat was fourth last year.

Kiplagat who lives and trains in Colorado, USA said she shifted her training to Kenya which has favourable weather conditions.

“I started training in December last year when I learned that I will be racing in Boston. But in January and February, it was so cold in the US, I decided to come to Kenya because the weather is favourable,” said Kiplagat.

She will be competing against Kericho-based Sheila Chepkirui, former New York Marathon champion Joyciline Jepkosgei, 2021 Amsterdam Marathon Angela Tanui and Fancy Chemutai.

Also in the elite field are Maurine Chepkemoi, Mary Ngugi, Viola Cheptoo, Vibian Chepkirui and Hellen Obiri.

(04/13/2023) Views: 912 ⚡AMP
by Bernard Rotich

AIU hands Kenyan Betty Wilson Lempus five-year ban

Betty Wilson Lempus was Thursday handed a five-year ban by Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), for violations of the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules (ADR).

Her period of ineligibility begins on October 14, 2022, the date on which she was provisionally suspended. Her results on and since September 5, 2021 (the date on which she tested positive) have been disqualified.

In October 2022, the Kenyan was first charged with Tampering or Attempted Tampering with any part of Doping Control (Rule 2.5 ADR), including obstructing or delaying the AIU’s investigation through the provision of false information or documentation.

Then, last month, Lempus was further charged with the presence of a Prohibited Substance or its metabolites or markers (Rule 2.1 ADR; Triamcinolone Acetonide).

Lempus, who finished third at 2018 Shanghai International Marathon, tested positive for prohibited substance triamcinolone acetonide following her win at the 2021 Harmonie Mutuelle semi de Paris half marathon having posted a time of 1:05:46.

Lempus, 31, alongside the 2021 Boston Marathon champion, Diana Kipyokei had provisionally been suspended for using banned substances last year in October.

Both have also been charged with obstructing the AIU’s investigation by providing false information or documentation.

Lempus finished fifth at the Prague Marathon in 2:24:16 last year, and won the Paris Half Marathon in 1:05:46 the same year.

In 2016, the country was placed in category 'A' of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) compliance watch list.

(01/26/2023) Views: 981 ⚡AMP
by Agnes Makhandia

AIU report shows five nations represent 54 per cent of banned athletes

Earlier this week, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) released its Global List of Ineligible Persons of 473 athletes or athlete support currently serving sanctions. Five countries account for more than half the total number of sanctions, with 92 athletes representing Russia.

The majority of the cases listed are related to infractions in the last five years. But there are lifetime bans for offenses dating back a decade. Many of the Russian infractions date from before the 2015 doping scandal, but numerous infractions have been detected in the last three years.

Russia is followed by India, with 65 recorded sanctions, Kenya with 54, Morocco with 24 and China with 20. These five countries make up 54 per cent of the AIU’s Global List of Ineligible Persons. 

Russia (RusAF) and the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) are working with World Athletics to lift the ban on Russian athletes and the federation. 

When World Athletics president Sebastian Coe was asked to comment on the RUSADA situation at a year-end media conference, he said, “The council will have a better update after their next meeting in March 2023.”

Kenya entered the spotlight in recent months, with many well-known distance runners receiving sanctions for doping violations. Last month, 2021 Boston champion Diana Kipyokei was given a six-year ban for a positive test for the weight-reducing and endurance-increasing drug triamcinolone acetonide. Twenty-one of the 54 Kenyan athletes serving suspensions were caught in the past year.

Since 2016, the East African nation has been classified in Category A of the countries under surveillance by World Athletics and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), alongside Belarus, Ethiopia, Morocco and Ukraine.

Coe said after the World Athletics Council Meeting in November 2022 that Athletics Kenya has “a long journey” to regain trust, and that Kenyan sports minister Ababu Namwama and the council were working toward a solution.

In an attempt to crack down on doping, the Kenyan sports minster told BBC News Africa in December that he hopes to fast-track modifications to legislation and crack down on doping the same way the government does with illegal drugs–by criminalizing it.

 

Previous attempts to criminalize doping in Kenya have been unsuccessful, with a motion submitted by former member of parliament and 2012 Boston Marathon champion Wesley Korir being defeated in 2016. Korir and his wife, Tarah Korir, lived in Waterloo, Ont. for several years before moving back to Kenya. 

(01/09/2023) Views: 888 ⚡AMP
by Marley Dickinson

Kenya targeting 2029 World Athletics Championships

Kenya has revealed plans to bid for the 2029 World Athletics Championships after missing out on the 2025 hosting rights last year.

Sports Minister Abadu Namwamba has confirmed Kenya's intent to become the first African nation to stage the event as the country looks to play host in six years' time.

Namwamba's announcement came during World Athletics President Sebastian Coe's visit to Kenyan capital Nairobi this week.

"Having lost the bid for 2025, we will prepare for 2029 and we believe we will be in a very strong position to put in a compelling bid," said Namwamba.

"We will be banking on the goodwill from World Athletics.

"We will come up with a much stronger bid."

Nairobi was among four bidders for the 2025 World Athletics Championships with Japanese capital Tokyo securing the event in July 2022.

Speaking at the time of the decision, Coe cited concerns over the Moi International Stadium as a reason why the Kenyan capital lost out to Tokyo.

The venue in Kasarani hosted the 2020 World Athletics under-20 Championships and has also staged the Kip Keino Classic, a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting, in the past two years.

"There were challenges around the stadium which would have needed a great deal of refurbishment and that was concern expressed by the [World Athletics] Council about the timeframe and the quantum of resource that would be needed in order to do that," said Coe in July.

"I have spoken to the Kenyan Athletics Association, and they know that I am fully committed to helping them or any other African country stage a World Championship in the foreseeable future."

Only the United States has won more medals than Kenya at the World Athletics Championships.

Kenya has claimed 62 gold, 55 silver and 44 bronze medals with much of their success coming over the long-distance races.

Coe visited Nairobi where he met Kenyan President William Ruto and Sports Minister Abadu Namwamba as well as representatives from Athletics Kenya and anti-doping authorities and several athletes.

There were fears that Athletics Kenya would be banned by World Athletics following a spate of positive doping cases.

However, the governing body evaded a lengthy ban after the Kenyan Government acted promptly, committing $25 million (£20.5 million/€23.7 million) to fight doping.

According to the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), Kenya has 54 athletes serving bans - the third most behind Russia with 92 and India with 65.

Kenya is one of seven "Category A" nations deemed by the AIU to have the highest doping risk and threaten the overall integrity of the sport.

Diana Kipyokei and Lawrence Cherono, both former Boston Marathon winners, are among the high-profile Kenyan athletes currently banned.

Last year's delayed World Athletics Championships was staged in Eugene in the US.

Hungarian capital Budapest is set to host this year's edition before Tokyo stages the event in two years' time.

(01/09/2023) Views: 908 ⚡AMP
by Geoff Berkeley

Kenya’s Edna Kiplagat upgraded to 2021 Boston Marathon champion

Edna Kiplagat of Kenya has officially become a two-time Boston Marathon champion. The BAA elevated Kiplagat to 2021 Boston Marathon winner on Tuesday after the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) handed down a six-year suspension to former 2021 champion Diana Kipyokei. Kipyokei tested positive for triamcinolone acetonide (a corticosteroid)–a banned anti-inflammatory substance–post-race in Boston.

Kipyokei was also suspended for providing misleading information in her attempts to explain her use of the substance, including “fake documentation which she alleged came from a hospital,” according to the AIU. Kipyokei’s provisional suspension was announced Oct.14, but began on June 27 and her six-year ban has been backdated to June.

Kiplagat is now a two-time Boston Marathon champion, after winning the race in 2017 (she also ran to second in 2019). Kiplagat, 43, is widely regarded as one of the all-time greats in distance running.

Dubbed the “Queen of Persistence,” Kiplagat has competed at both the Olympic and World championship marathons, taking gold twice at the World champs in 2011 and 2013, and silver in 2017. Kiplagat has run all six of the Abbott World Marathon Majors.

The Colorado-based athlete won the Abbott World Marathon Series VIII (2013–14) and was named the Series V (10–2011) champion following the disqualification of Russian athlete Liliya Shobukhova. 

Kiplagat won both the London Marathon (2014) and New York Marathon (2010) with many second-place finishes. In 2021 she won the 7-mile (11.3 km) Falmouth Road Race, running away from the field in the second half of the race to break the tape in 36 minutes, 52 seconds.

 

(12/21/2022) Views: 797 ⚡AMP
by Keeley Milne

Diana Kipyokei banned six years, stripped of Boston Marathon title

Kenyan Diana Kipyokei was banned six years and had her 2021 Boston Marathon title stripped for a positive drug test and then providing false information to anti-doping officials.

Kipyokei, 28, tested positive for a metabolite of triamcinolone acetonide (a corticosteroid) from a sample given after she won the Boston Marathon in October 2021.

Kipyokei then provided false and/or misleading information in trying to explain her positive test, “including fake documentation which she alleged came from a hospital,” according to the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), which handles doping cases in track and field.

She chose not to challenge the charges, according to the AIU.

Kipyokei’s provisional suspension while her case played out was announced Oct. 14, but it began June 27. Her six-year ban has been backdated to June 27.

The Boston Athletic Association, which announced Oct. 14 that Kipyokei would be stripped of her Boston Marathon title should her case not be overturned on appeal, followed up on Tuesday to officially disqualify her.

Kipyokei, in her World Marathon Major debut, won Boston in 2:24:45, beating countrywoman Edna Kiplagat by 24 seconds. Kiplagat, then 41, has been upgraded to champion, making her the oldest runner to win the Boston Marathon in its history dating to 1897.

Kipyokei, who has no registered results since the 2021 Boston Marathon, is the second Boston Marathon winner to be stripped of their title in the last decade. Kenyan Rita Jeptoo also had her 2014 win disqualified for doping.

(12/20/2022) Views: 764 ⚡AMP
by OlympicTalk

Kenyan Edna Kiplagat eyes second title in Boston

Former champion Edna Kiplagat is the only elite Kenyan female athlete invited for the Boston Marathon due for April 17, next year.

Kiplagat returns to the Boston Marathon course for the sixth time, having won in 2017 in two hours, 21 minutes and 52 second besides finishing second twice in 2019 in 2:24:13 and 2021 in 2:25:09.

However, the organisers of the Boston Marathon have now scaled Kiplagat to winner’s position this year after the initial winner Diana Kipyokei failed a doping test in October this year.

Kiplagat, 43, settled ninth in 2018 (2:47:14) behind winner, home athlete Desiree Linden and fourth in 2:21:52 this year where Olympic marathon champion, Peres Jepchirchir, reigned supreme 2:21:02.

Kiplagat, the 2011 and 2013 world champion, will face the reigning world marathon champion Gotytom Gebreslase from Ethiopia, Linden, who is eying to recapture the crown, and 2016 champion Atsede Baysa of Ethiopia.

Injured Jepchirchir will be missing in action.

Kiplagat set a new Masters Division record on her way to finishing fourth at the 2022 Boston Marathon in 2:21:40, and shows no signs of stopping.

While this will be Gotytom Gebreslase’s first Boston Marathon, it is far from her first time racing in Boston.

The Ethiopian world champion has finished runner-up at the Boston Half Marathon twice and has placed in the top-five three times at the Boston 5km.

Beyond winning a world title in 2022, Gebreslase placed third at both the Berlin Marathon and New York City Marathons this year.

“I am very happy to compete in the Boston Marathon 2023, as Boston is one of the most famous races in the world,” Gebreslase told the Boston Marathon website.

Gebreslasem said it has long been her dream to win the race.

" I raced many times in Boston in indoor races and then on the roads. So, I am happy to bring my career full circle as the World Champion with a chance to add the Boston Marathon title,” said Gebreslase.

(12/03/2022) Views: 897 ⚡AMP
by Ayumba Ayodi

Kenyan 10,000m champion Renju earns five-year doping ban

Keneth Kiprop Renju, who won the national 10,000m title in April, has become the latest Kenyan middle distance runner to be banned for doping.

Renju has been sanctioned for five years following three positive tests this year for banned steroid methasterone, the Athletics Integrity Unit has reported.

The 26-year-old returned adverse analytical findings in competitions between March and May this year.

The first test occurred at the 10km de Lille race in France on March 20.

The second took place at the Prague Half Marathon on April 2, and the athlete was given notification of a provisional suspension on April 13.

On May 8 the athlete provided another positive in-competition urine sample at the Lisbon Marathon.

Renju was notified regarding his provisional ban on May 13 and sent the testing agency medical documents from the Uasin Gishu County Hospital to explain his first adverse finding.

"The medical documents submitted contained no information that assisted the Athlete to explain how the metabolite of Methasterone had been detected in the First Sample," the AIU said.

Renju was initially given a six-year ban based on the application of Aggravating Circumstances, but that was reduced by a year after he responded with a signed admission.

His results since March 20 2022 have all been disqualified with any titles, awards, medals, points prizes and appearance money gained.

Renju joins a list of Kenyan long-distance runners to be either provisionally suspended or outright banned recently.

Boston Marathon winner Diana Kipyokei tested positive for triamcinolone and has also been charged with tampering for allegedly "obstructing or delaying the AIU's investigation through the provision of false information or documentation".

She won the women's race in America on October 11 last year but failed a test immediately after.

Meanwhile, Philemon Kacheran Lokedi has been banned for three years after testing positive for testoerone and its metabolites "with exogenous origin".

Felix Kipchumba Korir - the winner of the 2018 Nanjing Marathon - and Emmanuel Saina have also both received three-year bans after testing positive for norandrosterone.

(11/12/2022) Views: 1,002 ⚡AMP
by Mike Rowbottom

Here is everything you need to know ahead of Sunday's TCS New York City Marathon

The world’s top marathoners have assembled in NYC for the 51st running of the TCS New York City Marathon this Sunday, Nov 6. The 2022 race returns to full capacity of 50,000 runners with a stacked field of elites in the men’s, women’s and wheelchair events. Defending champion Albert Korir of Kenya returns to defend the men’s title across the five boroughs and 2022 world champion Gotytom Gebreslase of Ethiopia headlines the women’s field. 

How to watch:

Unless you live on the west coast, the 2022 TCS New York City Marathon will be easy to stream and follow online. The professional women’s field will begin at 8:40 a.m. E.T. and the professional men’s field at 9:05 a.m. E.T. Viewers should note that Daylight Savings Time ends in the early hours of Sunday morning, so viewers need to remember to change their clocks back an hour.

Follow @CanadianRunning on Twitter for live tweets and up-to-date news on the 2022 TCS NYC Marathon. 

Women’s elite field

At only 27, Ethiopia’s Gebreslase has achieved much success in the marathon. In 2021, she won Berlin in her debut and followed it up with a podium finish at the 2022 Tokyo Marathon and world championship gold in Eugene this past July. Gebreslase put her talent on display in Eugene, showing that she can run at a fast pace and hold her own against the world’s best marathoners. She will be the likely favourite to win NYC Sunday.

Lonah Chemtai Salpeter is the fastest woman in the field, with a personal best of 2:17:45 from the 2020 Tokyo Marathon. Salpeter was close to an Olympic medal in Tokyo 2020 but hit a wall late and ended-up 66th. She finally got her hands on a bronze medal in Eugene this summer but was bested by Gebreslase in a late surge. Since worlds and European championships earlier this summer, Salpeter has taken some downtime to prepare for a bid at her second Abbott World Marathon Major title in NYC.

Kenya’s Edna Kiplagat will also be one to watch, with the 2011 and 2013 marathon world champion hoping to extend her record of four World Marathon Major wins to five (Boston 2021, 2017, New York 2010, and London 2014). Kiplagat was awarded the 2021 Boston Marathon title after her compatriot Diana Kipyokei was disqualified due to a positive doping test. 

Many fans of the sport have long awaited the marathon debut of two-time 5,000m Olympic medallist and world champion Hellen Obiri of Kenya. She has gone through a lot of transition this year, switching training groups and moving from Kenya to Boulder, Colo., after worlds to train with On Athletics Club (OAC). It will be interesting to see how the speedy 14:18 5K runner can handle the hilly NYC course, but she could be a dark horse for the win.  

Outside of the top big names, the U.S. will be well represented in NYC by former national record holder Keira D’Amato, who ran both the 2022 Berlin Marathon and World Championships only eight weeks apart, and Aliphine Tuliamuk, who won U.S. marathon Olympic Trials in 2020 and holds a personal best of 2:26:50.

Canadian Running prediction: Gotytom Gebreslase (ETH) – 2:21:42 *CR*

Men’s elite field

Kenya’s Korir has a tough job ahead of him on Sunday as he aims to defend his 2021 NYC Marathon title. In his two trips to the Big Apple, Korir has achieved a lot of success. In 2019, he finished runner-up to his compatriot Geoffrey Kamworor in 2:08:36, then followed it up with a win and 14-second course PB (2:08:22) in 2021 for his first world major win. One thing Korir has going for him is that he is consistent. In his last six of eight races, Korir has dipped under the 2:10-mark, which is a speedy time for New York’s hilly course. 

Korir will face stiff competition from his Kenyan compatriot, 2022 Boston Marathon champion Evans Chebet, who will be hoping for a second major marathon win of the year. Chebet, 33, holds the fastest time in the field of 2:03-flat from the 2020 Valencia Marathon.

Ethiopia’s Shura Kitata will be another name to look out for, having finished second in 2018. Since his 2020 win at the London Marathon, Kitata has struggled to reach the podium in his last three races. His last race came in March, where he was sixth at the 2022 Tokyo Marathon in 2:06:12 for fifth. Can Kitata bounce back in NYC?

Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands was second to Eliud Kipchoge in the marathon at the 2022 Olympics and set the Dutch national record of 2:04:56 at the Rotterdam Marathon in April. Nageeye has shown he has the experience to be there late, but it will be interesting to see how he handles the course in his debut.

The U.S. men’s field in New York is one of its best in years, with five sub-2:09 marathoners. The 2016 Olympic bronze medallist, Galen Rupp, will make his NYC debut and lead the way for the Americans with a personal best of 2:06:07. Leonard Korir (2:07:56), Scott Fauble (2:08:52), and Marty Hehir (2:08:59) are three others to keep your eye on. Fauble had a sensational run at the 2022 Boston Marathon, where he placed seventh in a personal best time of 2:08:52.

Canadian Running prediction: Evans Chebet (KEN) – 2:07:43

(11/04/2022) Views: 1,066 ⚡AMP
by Running Magazine

No reprieve as two more Kenyans suspended for doping

Athletes Integrity Unit (AIU), the body formed by World Athletics to combat doping in the sport, Tuesday provisionally suspended Ibrahim Mukunga Wachira and Kenneth Kiprop Renju for the use of banned substances.

Mukunga, who won a half marathon race in Estonia in socks in 2017, has been suspended for the use of prohibited Norandrosterone, while the national 10,000m champion Renju got nabbed for the use of Methasterone.

Renju is the most successful of the duo, besides winning the national title on April 27 this year, he also won Lille 10km race on March 27 in France, Prague Half Marathon on April 2 in the Czech Republic and Lisbon Half Marathon on May 22 in Portugal.

He started the season with a third place finish at Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon on February 19 in the United Arab Emirates.

Mukunga and Renju’s ban comes only four days after the 2021 Boston Marathon champion, Diana Kipyokei and her compatriot Betty Wilson Lempus were suspended for using banned substances.

Kipyokei and Lempus’ suspension came only three days after Kenyan marathon runners Mark Kangogo and Philemon Kacheran were banned for doping.

Kacheran, who was been banned for three years on Monday last week, was hounded out from Team Kenya that was already in Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games held July 28 to August 8 in the British second  capital city.

Kacheran’s ban came six days after compatriot Lawrence Cherono, the 2019 Chicago and Boston marathon champion, was prevented from competing in the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, also for a doping offence.

Besides Kacheran, three other Kenyans were banned from taking part at the Commonwealth Games due to doping.

They were female marathoners Stella Barsosio, Changwony and 1,500m runner Kumari Taki.

Close to 30 Kenyans athletes have been flagged down for various doping offences. The list could grow since more cases that are yet to be revealed are at the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK).

In 2016, the country was placed in category A of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) compliance watch list.

(10/18/2022) Views: 1,057 ⚡AMP
by Ayumba Ayodi

2021 Boston Marathon champion Diana Kipyokei suspended for doping violations

2021 Boston Marathon Diana Kipyokei, along with another Kenyan athlete, Betty Wilson Lempus (winner of the Harmonie Mutuelle Semi de Paris in September 2021) have been provisionally suspended for doping violations, including testing positive for prohibited substances and for tampering or attempting to tamper with the investigation.

Kipyokei tested positive for a metabolite of triamcinolone acetonide on Oct. 11, 2021, following her victory at Boston. Lempus tested positive for the same drug after her race in Paris on Sept. 5, but was initially cleared, based on her explanation for the positive test.

She has now been charged with providing false information.

Triamcinolone acetonide is prohibited under WADA’s category S9: glucocorticoids. In a press release, the Athletics Integrity Unit explains that glucocorticoids are sometimes used for therapeutic purposes but are prohibited in competition because they may enhance performance; athletes who test positive who cannot produce a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) are guilty of a doping violation and subject to suspension.

The press release goes on to state that 10 Kenyan athletes have tested positive for this substance between 2021 and 2022–a marked increase from previous years, including yesterday’s announcement of the suspension of Sierre Zinal winner Mark Kangogo for three years. 

(10/14/2022) Views: 985 ⚡AMP
by Anne Francis

Kenyan Edna Kiplagat targets top spot at 2022 Boston Marathon: I am not done yet

Kenya's 42-year-old two-time world champion wants a second Boston Marathon title on April 18, and reveals how she balances motherhood with running.

Since winning her Boston Marathon debut in 2017, the Kenyan running star Edna Kiplagat has made the podium of the oldest race twice.

Despite being 42-years-old, the double world champion believes she can finish top of the podium again at the 2022 Boston Marathon on 18 April.

“If everything goes well as per my training and my body responds well, I’m hoping to be on the podium (in Boston) or do even better," Kiplagat said in an exclusive interview with Olympics.Com from her training base in Longmont, Colorado, USA.

“I enjoy running and as a professional athlete I believe running never stops."

But even a podium place isn't a given in a star-studded women's field that also includes reigning Olympic marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir.

Running is a family affair for Kiplagat

Kiplagat remembers exactly when she started running, aged 16.

She is also very clear about when she first donned the Kenyan kit, saying: “I started representing Kenya in 1996 as a junior at the 1996 World (Cross Country) in South Africa."

What she doesn’t know is when she will finally hang up her competition trainers.

“I cannot say when I will stop. I know someday I will, but I am not done for now," she continued.

“I have my kids and other upcoming athletes looking up to me. I want to keep running to be a role model to them, motivate them and then use my experience later to help them in future.”

Kiplagat, who was scouted in high school by Brother Colm O’Connell - the legendary coach who moulded two-time Olympic 800m champion David Rudisha - sights her family as her key inspiration.

She is coached by husband and former runner Gilbert Koech, while her two children, Carlos (17), and Wendy (13), are already mastering distance running in school.

Kiplagat is also among a select group of athletes who have returned to the peak of their careers after giving birth.

“It’s not easy,” she admitted of raising her two biological children (born between 2004 and 2008) and three others that she adopted.

“After training, I have to come home and take care of my family as they are my priority. They need me and I must play my role as a mother.

“I have a great support team - my coach and my training partners, physio, and nutritionist who play an important role in my career. I get ample time to train and be with my family and even for recovery.”

Boston Marathon: A stepping stone to the Worlds and the Olympics

Two-and-a-half decades after her first race, Kiplagat is still runs between 110km - 130km in a week.

The passion and excitement the three-time World Marathon Major winner takes into every race has never wavered.

Last year at Boston she executed an incredible sprint finish to seal second behind Kenyan winner Diana Kipyokei.

“I know the course very well and I have had very good training in the build-up to this. I am expecting a very fast pace as most of the elites have run under 2.20 so they will push the pace from the start and even the course record may be lowered if the weather conditions are favourable,” the London 2012 Olympian said of what she expects to be a “very competitive race”.

Kiplagat has tuned up for her fifth Boston race with a ninth-place finish at the New York City Half Marathon on March 20.

“This was part of my speedwork to see how my body responds after the months of training."

The flame of ambition still burns brightly for Kiplagat, who in 2013 successfully defended her marathon world title.

A second win in Boston will make her only the second Kenyan woman to do so.

The first was 2008 Olympic silver medallist Catherine Ndereba, who clinched four-consecutive Boston titles.

Kiplagat, who finished fourth at the 2019 Worlds in Doha, now hopes to join the elite club of Kenyans who have won 13 of the last 21 Boston Marathon women's titles.

Kiplagat's 26-year career as a long-distance runner

Marathons are a gruelling endeavour that tests body and mind in equal measure.

But Kiplagat who honed her career in Kenyan running's spiritual home of Iten, and that may help explain her unbelievable longevity in the sport.

She is the first able-bodied athlete to record ten top-three finishes in World Marathon Majors New York, London, Boston and Tokyo, and wants to extend her top-flight marathon career - that dates back to 2010 when she won her debut 42km race in Los Angeles - to the Paris 2024 Olympics at least.

“I have been persistent with my routine. I believe in myself and fully trust my coach," she said.

"We have stuck to our plans, strategy on what we want to do and what we expect from each race. I always try to understand what is needed from me and plan how to execute my races on race day.

“I have tried to be consistent in everything I do. I am disciplined and I’m still looking forward to do even better.”

Younger athletes can also pick up valuable experiences from the running trailblazer.

“They need to have a plan for their races to avoid burnout. (They) must also have ample time for recovery, a good build-up and preparation. If you want to keep running for long it also needs a proper plan and patience with yourself.”

(04/13/2022) Views: 1,112 ⚡AMP
by Evelyn Watta