Daniel Simiu Ebenyo (born 18 September 1995) is a Kenyan middle-distance and long-distance runner.

Early life

Brought up in Baragoi,

Samburu County Samburu County is a county in the former Rift Valley Province, Kenya. It covers an area of roughly 21,000 km2 (8,000 mi2) in northern Kenya where the Samburu, Turkana and many other tribes live. It stretches north from the Wuaso Ng' ...

, having lost his father early in life to cattle rustling, he was raised by his mother and later, grandmother. He has said that it was while at Aiyam Day secondary school a 24 km trek to the learning institution and back home would eventually make him an athlete as walking to school early in the morning and back in the evening was the most dangerous time to do the journey as they crossed bandits' battle grounds along the narrow paths to the school and even though he would set off at 5:30 am for an 8 am start at school, would sometimes be forced to take an even longer route. He now trains in Iten in the

Rift Valley A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics. The linear d ...

Career

He finished in second place at the 2019 Kenya national World championships trials. However, he was unable to compete as he failed to meet some of the Athletes Integrity Unit (AIU) doping requirements. Simiyu did the in-competition test several times, but did not meet the required three out-of- competition tests that are mandatory for all athletes and include both urine and blood must include at least one Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) test and one Erythropoietin (Epo) test. Simiyu blamed Athletics Kenya for the debacle, claiming the federation did not inform him of the regulations before he signed up for the trials. He was so disappointed he contemplated quitting the track and venturing into road racing full time and he won the Safaricom Kisii 10 km road race in a time of 29:16.71 as well as winning the 10 km race at the Nairobi Marathon in an event record time of 28:23. He started the 2021 season with a victory after winning the elite-only San Silvestre Vallecana 10 km in Spain on 3 January. He earned a spot on the Kenyan team for the

2020 Summer Games The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

in the 5000m after finishing in the top 2 at the Kenyan Olympic trials after running a personal best 13:05.05. behind

Nicholas Kimeli Nicholas Kipkorir Kimeli (born 29 September 1998) is a Kenyan long-distance runner. In Hengelo, on 9 June 2019, he ran a 5000 metres personal best in under 13 minutes. At the 2019 London Grand Prix, at the same distance, he finished in third plac ...

, and was confirmed on the Kenyan team. In March 2022, he finished fourth over 3000m at the

2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships The 18th World Athletics Indoor Championships were held from 18 to 20 March 2022 in Belgrade, Serbia. Ethiopia headed the medal table, with 4 gold medals, despite winning only nine in total. United States, second on gold medals won with 3, won ...

in Belgrade. He then won the Kenyan 5000m title as well as winning silver at the 2022 African Athletics Championships. He qualified for the 5000m final at the

2023 World Athletics Championships The 2023 World Athletics Championships ( hu, 2023-as atlétikai világbajnokság), the nineteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships, are scheduled to be held from 19 August to 27 August 2023 in Budapest, Hungary. The city of Budapes ...

in Eugene, Oregon. He won the silver medal over 10,000m at the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

held in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

. In the 10,000m race at the

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, he placed second to win the silver medal.

Personal bests

Outdoor * 3000 metres – 7:40.39 (Zagreb 2022) *

Two miles The 2 mile (10,560 feet or 3,218.688 metres) is a historic running distance. Like the mile run, it is still contested at some invitational meets due its historical chronology in the United States and United Kingdom. It has been lar ...

– 8:19.67 (Eugene 2021) * 5000 metres – 12:54.90 (Brussels 2022) *

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The ra ...

– 27:11.26 (Birmingham 2022) Indoor * 3000 metres – 7:37.86 (Metz 2022) Road * 10K – 26:58 (Valencia 2022) *

Half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcut ...

– 59:04 (Manama 2022)

References

1995 births Living people People from Samburu County Sportspeople from Rift Valley Province Kenyan male middle-distance runners Kenyan male long-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Kenya 21st-century Kenyan people Athletes (track and field) at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Kenya Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships medalists {{Kenya-athletics-bio-stub