Edna Kiplagat

Career

She is the 2011 and 2013 IAAF World Champion in the marathon. She established herself as an elite marathon runner with wins at the Los Angeles and New York City Marathons in 2010. Her personal best for the distance is 2:19:50 hours, set at the London Marathon in 2012. At the 3000 metres distance, Kiplagat won a silver medal at the 1996 World Junior Championships and a bronze medal at the 1998 World Junior Championships. She finished thirteenth in the long race at the 2006 World Cross Country Championships. In the same season she recorded personal bests in the 5000 metres, with 15:57.3 minutes in July in Nairobi, and the half marathon, with 1:09:32 hours in October in San Jose. In June 2007 she ran the 10,000 metres in 33:27.0 minutes in Nairobi. She won the 2006 Virginia Beach Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon, the 2007 Lilac Bloomsday Run and the 2007 Bay to Breakers (San Francisco).

2010

Kiplagat finished second behind Emily Chebet at the 2010 Freihofer's Run for Women, running a time of 15:20 and winning $5000 in the process. She managed third place at the Beach to Beacon race in August 2010, and completed the same feat at the Falmouth Road Race two weeks later (finishing behind Lineth Chepkurui and Wude Ayalew at both competitions). Kiplagat won the Los Angeles Marathon in 2010, only her second marathon ever, and went on to win the 2010 New York City Marathon. She defeated two marathon debutantes, Shalane Flanagan of the United States and Mary Keitany of Kenya, who took second and third, respectively.

2011

Kiplagat at the 2011 London Marathon. She ran a career best of 1:09:00 at the New York City Half Marathon, finishing as runner-up behind Caroline Rotich. She took on Keitany again at the 2011 London Marathon, but was outrun by her domestic rival. Still, Kiplagat was pleased with her third-place performance as her time of 2:20:46 marked a significant personal best, improving upon her previous time by almost five minutes. Kiplagat was the race favourite for the 2011 World Championships Marathon and delivered on her form, taking the women's title in a time of 2:28:43 hours. Her win did not look assured when she fell over in the last 5 km, but her team-mate and eventual third placer Sharon Cherop stopped mid-race to help Kiplagat to her feet. Kiplagat, Cherop and Priscah Jeptoo made it a medal sweep for Kenya – the first time that any nation had taken all three medals at a global marathon championship. She entered the Montferland Run with a slight injury and finished as runner-up to Abebech Afework.

2012

She began 2012 on grass and came third at the Kenyan Cross Country Championships. This was her preparation for the 2012 London Marathon, where she was the last runner to challenge eventual winner Mary Keitany and ended the race as runner-up in a personal best of 2:19:50 hours. Kiplagat was selected for the Kenyan Olympic team as a result. She was a comfortable winner of the New York Mini 10K in June. At the 2012 London Olympics she failed to repeat her success in the British capital and managed only twentieth place in the Olympic marathon with a time of 2:27:52 hours. Six weeks later she ran at the Great North Run and had a better performance, setting a personal best of 1:07:41 hours while finishing runner-up to Tirunesh Dibaba.

2013

Kiplagat finished runner-up in the London Marathon for the second consecutive year, on this occasion behind Priscah Jeptoo. Later in 2013 she became the first woman to retain the marathon world title when she earned the first gold medal on the opening day of the World Athletics Championships, taking victory ahead of Valeria Straneo and Kayoko Fukushi in a time of 2:25:44 hours.

2014

After finishing on the podium in each of the previous three editions, Kiplagat finally claimed victory at the London Marathon ahead of (unrelated) compatriot Florence Kiplagat in a time of 2:20:21 hours.

PERFORMANCE

PLACE

DATE

3000 Metres

8:53.06

Sydney (SIAC Homebush)

22 AUG 1996

5000 Metres

15:57.3

Nairobi

01 JUL 2006

10,000 Metres

33:27.0

Nairobi

16 JUN 2007

10 Kilometres

31:06:00

Boston, MA

26 JUN 2016

15 Kilometres

47:57:00

Utica, NY

11 JUL 2010

20 Kilometres

01:05:29

Lisboa

24 MAR 2013

Half Marathon

01:07:57

Glasgow

05 OCT 2014

25 Kilometres

01:23:40

Tokyo

28 FEB 2016

30 Kilometres

01:39:11

London

13 APR 2014

Marathon

02:19:50

London

22 APR 012

8 Kilometres

26:19:00

Kingsport

13 JUL 2002

Year

Competition

Venue

Event

Position

Mark

1996

World Junior Championships

 Sydney

3000 m

Silver

8'53"06

1998

World Junior Championships

 Annecy

3000 m

Bronze

9'05"46

2006

World Cross Country Championships

 Fukuoka

Long race

13th

26'32"

2011

World Championships

 Daegu

Marathon

Gold

2h28'43"

2012

Olympic Games

 London

Marathon

20th

2h27'52"

2013

World Championships

 Moscow

Marathon

Gold

2h25'44"

2015

World Championships

Beijing

Marathon

5th

2h28'18"