Joyce Chepkirui (born 20 August 1988) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in road running events. She established herself as a half marathon runner, winning races in Granollers, Bogotá and Gothenburg. She set a best of 1:06:19 hours to win the 2014 Prague Half Marathon. She also competes in 10K road races and her personal best of 30:38 minutes makes her fifth fastest woman ever.
Her first international appearance came at the 2007 African Junior Athletics Championships, where she came fifth in the 1500 metres.[2] She made her debut in the half marathoninBenidorm that November and finished as runner-up.[3] She tried the 3000 metres steeplechase in 2008, but managed only fifth at the national junior championships.[4] She changed her focus to road running competitions the following year. She travelled to Spain and had top five finishes in a number of races, highlighted by a win in Almodóvar del Río with a time of 1:11:47 hours.[3][5] At the end of the year she placed fourth in the 15K at Kenya's Baringo Half Marathon.[6]
Chepkirui established herself as an elite level half marathon runner in 2010. She won a series of Spanish races, taking titles in Alicante, Torrevieja, Albacete, San Sebastián and Logroño. She improved her best to 1:09:51 hours at the San Sebastián race and also won the Barcelona and Granollers Half Marathons.[7][8] She was selected to represent Kenya at the 2010 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships and she ran a best of 1:09:30 hours to take fifth place and help Kenya to the team title.[9] She closed the season with further wins in Spain, winning in Córdoba and setting another best of 1:09:25 hours at the Valencia Half Marathon.[10] She ended the year with a win at the 15K Baringo race in Kenya.[1]
She began 2011 with a win at the Lago Maggiore Half Marathon,[11] followed by a fourth-place finish at the Prague Half Marathon.[12] She set a personal best and course record of 1:09:04 hours to win at the Göteborgsvarvet in Sweden in May, then ran a world leading time of 30:43 minutes for the 10K in Appingedam.[13] Taking on a shorter distance, she managed to place second in the 1500 m at the Kenyan Athletics Championships.[14] She won the Bogotá Half Marathon by a margin of twenty seconds, over runner-up Mare Dibaba.[15] She won the Tilburg 10K in September and her time of 30:38 minutes was the fastest in the world that year and made her the fifth quickest ever over the distance.[16][17] Chepkirui was chosen to compete for Kenya in the 1500 m at the 2011 All-Africa Games and she came away with a silver medal behind her compatriot Irene Jelagat.[18] She won the first women's half marathon title in Baringo with a course record of 1:10:57.1 minutes.[19] The Zatopek 10 was her last outing of the year and she ran a 10,000 metres best and course record of 31:26.10 minutes to continue her long-distance winning streak.[20]
Chepkirui won the World's Best 10K at the start of 2013.[28] Her debut over the marathon distance came at the 2013 London Marathon, but she did not match her success over shorter distances and placed fifteenth overall with a time of 2:35:54 hours. A poor showing of 33:01 minutes for eighth came at the Ottawa 10K a month later, but she had a string of victories in the second half of the year, winning the Beach to Beacon 10K, Falmouth Road Race, Dam tot Damloop, Singelloop Utrecht and the Grand 10 Berlin.[29] Her run of 30:37 minutes in Berlin was a new personal best and the fastest ever on German soil for the 10K distance.[30] A course record of 68:15 minutes at the Valencia Half Marathon followed a week later.[31]
Chepkirui improved her half marathon best at the Prague Half Marathon in April 2014, taking victory in a course record time of 1:06:19 hours.[32] That year, she also won gold in the 10000 m at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.[33]
Kenya
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Quotations from Wikiquote
Data from Wikidata
Liz McColgan (SCO)
Stella Chesang (UGA)
