Abel Kirui (born 6 April 1982) is a

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires endurance, stamina as well as mental strength. Within e ...

from

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who competes in

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

s. He had back-to-back wins in the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in 2009 and 2011. Kirui won in 2009 with a time of 2:06:54, then defended his title with a winning margin of two minutes and 28 seconds – the largest ever margin at the World Championship event. He earned the silver medal in the 2012 London Olympic

. He has also won the 2008

Vienna City Marathon The Vienna City Marathon is an annual marathon race over the classic distance of 42.195 km held in Vienna, Austria since 1984. History The first edition was held on with a total of 794 competitors. It is Austria's largest road running even ...

, the 2016 Chicago Marathon and was runner-up at the 2007 Berlin Marathon and 2017 Chicago Marathon.

Career

Abel KIRUI Duncan KIBET Paul BIWOTT Vienna-City-Marathon2008

Abel Kirui started running while in Samitui Primary School. After high school, the jobless Kirui entered a recruitment race by

Administration Police ) , formedyear = 1958 , formedmonthday = , preceding1 = , dissolved = , superseding = , employees = 30,000 , volunteers = , budget = , country = Kenya , countryabbr ...

(AP); the winner of such race would be recruited by AP. He won the race and subsequently joined AP, starting serious training only after then. He entered the 2006 Berlin Marathon as a

pacemaker An artificial cardiac pacemaker (or artificial pacemaker, so as not to be confused with the natural cardiac pacemaker) or pacemaker is a medical device that generates electrical impulses delivered by electrodes to the chambers of the heart eith ...

, but finished the race ninth. At the 2007 Berlin Marathon, Kirui finished second with a time of 2:06:51, after the winner

Haile Gebrselassie Haile Gebrselassie ( am, ኀይሌ ገብረ ሥላሴ, ''haylē gebre silassē''; born 18 April 1973) is an Ethiopian retired long-distance track, road running athlete, and businessman. He won two Olympic gold medals and four World Champions ...

, who set a new marathon world record. The time made Kirui the sixth fastest marathoner in 2007. He also won the

Paderborn Half-marathon Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...

in 2007. At the 2008

, he won with a new course record of 2:07:38. He finished third in the 2009

Rotterdam Marathon The Rotterdam Marathon, currently branded NN Rotterdam Marathon, is an annual marathon that has been held in Rotterdam, Netherlands since 1981. It has been held in April every year since the third edition in 1984 and attracts many top athletes. ...

with a time of 2:05:04 after fellow Kenyans

Duncan Kibet Duncan Kibet (born 25 April 1978) is a runner from Kenya. He became the second fastest marathoner ever with a time of 2:04:27 hours, when he won the 2009 Rotterdam Marathon. Career Kibet dropped out of school in 1997 due to financial problems. H ...

and

James Kwambai James Kipsang Kwambai (born February 28, 1983) is a runner from Kenya, who specialises in marathons. He is a former Kenyan record holder in the event, with his personal best of 2:04:27 hours in 2009. At the time this made him the second fastest r ...

, making him the sixth fastest marathoner ever. On 22 August, Kirui took gold over his teammate

Emmanuel Mutai Emmanuel Kipchirchir Mutai (born 12 October 1984) is a long distance runner from Kenya, who specialises in marathons. He is now the joint 6th fastest man ever over the 42.195 km distance. Initially running in half marathons, he made his de ...

who took silver at the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

in Berlin at a record time of 2:06:54. After the 2009 World Championships, Kirui had many unsuccessful attempts to show the dominance he had shown in his Berlin race: he finished in fifth place at the

2010 London Marathon The 2010 London Marathon was the 30th running of the annual marathon race in London, England, which took place on Sunday, 25 April. The elite men's race was won by Ethiopia's Tsegaye Kebede in a time of 2:05:19 hours and the elite women's ...

, then failed to finish at the

2011 London Marathon The 2011 London Marathon was the 31st running of the annual marathon race in London, England, which took place on Sunday, 17 April. The elite men's race was won by Kenya's Emmanuel Kipchirchir Mutai in a course record time of 2:04:40 hours and ...

. Immediately after that failure, he started training with the Italian Coach Renato Canova, moving from Kapsabet to Iten, together with Jonathan Maiyo. Training with Canova's group, he was able to recruit the best shape, winning in Daegu his second title in World Championships. Kirui ran at the

Prefontaine Classic The Prefontaine Classic, an Oregon Track Club event, is one of the premier track and field meets in the United States, held in Eugene, Oregon. Every year it draws a world caliber field to compete at Hayward Field on the campus of the University o ...

track 25K/30K mixed race, hoping to set a new 25k track record. Although he just managed to dip under the previous world record time for the track 25K, he was well beaten by fellow Kenyan and teammate

Moses Mosop Moses Cheruiyot Mosop (born 7 July 1985) is a Kenyan middle and long distance athlete. He competed for Kenya at the 2004 Olympic Games and went on to take 10,000 metres bronze at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics. He has also been suc ...

, who broke both 25K and 30K world records. He was given the wildcard spot on the Kenyan marathon team as the defending champion at the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in th ...

. Kirui ran a time of 2:07:38 beating out fellow countryman

Vincent Kipruto Vincent Kipruto Limo (born 13 September 1987) is a Kenyan long distance runner who specialises in the marathon. He made his debut in the event in 2008 and won the Paris Marathon a year later. He then placed top three at the Chicago Marathon a ...

and Ethiopian

Feyisa Lilesa Feyisa Lilesa (Afaan Oromo: Fayyisaa Leellisaa; born 1 February 1990) is an Oromo long-distance runner from Ethiopia. He became the youngest man to run under 2:06 when he ran 2:05:23 in the men's marathon at the 2010 Rotterdam Marathon. He se ...

. This made Kirui the third man to defend the marathon world title, following in the steps of Abel Antón and

Jaouad Gharib Jaouad Gharib ( ar, جواد غريب, born 22 May 1972 in Khenifra) is a Moroccan long-distance runner who competes in the marathon. Winner of the 2003 World Championships and 2005 World Championships over the distance, he is als ...

. He ran over 10 miles at the

Great South Run The Great South Run is an annual 10 mile (16.09 km) road running race which takes place in Portsmouth, United Kingdom providing an intermediate distance between the ten kilometre and the half marathon (21.097 km) runs. Launched in 1990 ...

in October and finished as runner-up to

Leonard Komon Leonard Patrick Komon (born 10 January 1988) is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner and was the List of world records in athletics, world record holder in the 10 kilometres. His 10K world record in 2010 with a time of 26:44 is a 17 seco ...

. Kirui finished in second at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

with a time of 2:08:27 barely losing to the winner

Stephen Kiprotich Stephen Kiprotich ("KIP-roh-tich", born 27 February 1989) is a Ugandan long-distance runner. He is an Olympic marathon champion, having won the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. Kiprotich also won a gold at the 2013 World Championships in ...

by 26 seconds. At the 2016 Chicago Marathon, he won with the time of 2:11:23, barely beating Dickson Chumba by 3 seconds. Kirui finished in second place at the 2017 Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:8:48 barely losing to the winner

Galen Rupp Galen Rupp (born May 8, 1986) is an American long-distance runner. He competed in the Summer Olympics in 2008 in Beijing, 2012 in London, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and 2021 in Tokyo. He won the silver medal in the men's 10,000-meter run in London ...

by 28 seconds. Kirui finished the 2017 London Marathon, in fourth place with a time of 2:07:45. The following year, at the 2018 London Marathon he once again finished fourth with a time of 2:07:07.

Personal life

Kirui lives at Nabkoi, east of

Kapsabet Kapsabet is a town in Kenya. It is the capital of Nandi County and is located 40 kilometres southwest of Eldoret on the way to Chavakali. The name Kapsabet comes from "Kap"- 'belong to/area of' and "sabit" or "sobet" – 'live' and has come to ...

. He is married to Stella Jemeli and has a son Tevin Kipchumba. Kirui is a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Kirui along with fellow Seventh-day Adventists

Priscah Jeptoo Priscah Jeptoo (born 26 June 1984) is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner who specialises in the marathon. She has won marathons in New York, Paris, Turin, and London and has a best time of 2:20:14 for the distance. She was the runner-up i ...

and

Amos Tirop Matui Amos Tirop Matui (born 27 May 1976) is a Kenyan professional long-distance running, long-distance and marathon runner. He has won marathons on four continents with career highlights including consecutive wins and course records at the Singa ...

founded Better Living Marathon. Marathon runner

Michael Kosgei Rotich Michael Kosgei Rotich, or Mike Rotich (born October 26, 1982) is a marathon runner from Kenya. Rotich finished second in the 2002 Milan Marathon. Winner Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot, Rotich and third placed Daniele Caimmi all clocked the same time, ...

is his uncle. Kirui is coached by Renato Canova.

References

External links

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Marathoninfo profileWorld Marathon Majors profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirui, Abel 1982 births Living people Kenyan male long-distance runners Kenyan male marathon runners Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Kenya Olympic silver medalists for Kenya World Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Kenyan Seventh-day Adventists World Athletics Championships winners Chicago Marathon male winners 21st-century Kenyan people