Mary Moraa (born 15 June 2000) is a Kenyan athlete who specialises in the

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since t ...

. She won the gold medal at the

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, a bronze medal in the event at the 2022 World Athletics Championships and a gold 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 ...

. Moraa is the Kenyan record holder for the 400 metres. She was the

2022 Diamond League The 2022 Diamond League was the thirteenth season of the Diamond League, an annual series of outdoor track and field meetings, organised by World Athletics. The competition was a revision to the top level athletics series since the Diamond League ...

800 m champion.

Background

Moraa was orphaned at age 2 after the death of her father and then her mother. She grew up with her grandparents, in Kisii in western Kenya. She won an education bursary through running.

Career

Mary Moraa specialized in the 400 metres distance until 2021. She made her international debut at the World Under-18 Championships in

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper h ...

and won the silver medal in the event with a personal best time of 53.31 seconds. The following year, the 18-year-old placed fifth over the same distance at the World U20 Championships held in

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

, Finland, clocking new best of 52.85 s in the heats. In 2019, she won in the 400 m the African U20 title, Kenyan senior title, and placed fourth at the

African Games The African Games, formally known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan African Games, are a continental multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the African Union (AU) with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (A ...

held in Rabat, Morocco. She reached the

semi-finals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

in her individual event at the Doha World Championships. Her season's best was 51.75 s. She made her debut in the

that year. Moraa transitioned to the 800 metres in 2020, and represented Kenya at the delayed

2020 Tokyo Olympics 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 List of Olympic Games h ...

in 2021 competing in the event, where she was eliminated in the semi-finals with a time of 2:00.47. In July 2022, Moraa won the bronze medal in the 800 m at the

World Championships 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 Eugene, Oregon, clocking a personal best of 1:56.71 behind Athing Mu (1:56.30) and

Keely Hodgkinson Keely Nicole Hodgkinson (born 3 March 2002) is an English athlete specialising in the 800 metres. At the age of 19, she won the silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, breaking the British record set by Kelly Holmes in 1995. She is the 2022 W ...

(1:56.38). The following month, she won a gold in the

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at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games after storming through to beat Hodgkinson in the final. She went from first to last and back to first in that race. In September, Moraa became the Diamond League 800 m champion after she won final in

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

Achievements

Personal bests

* 400 metres – 50.38 (

2023) *

– 1:56.03 (

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 ...

2023) ** 800 metres indoor – 2:00.61 (

Liévin Liévin (; pcd, Lévin; ) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The inhabitants are called ''Liévinois''. Overview The town of Liévin is an old mining area of Pas-de-Calais. Near Lens, this town is of modest size bu ...

2023)

International competitions

Circuit wins and titles, National titles

* Diamond League 800 metres champion: Diamond blue

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

:: 800 metres wins, other events specified in parentheses :*

: Stockholm Bauhaus-galan, Zürich Weltklasse :*

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

: Rabat Meeting International () * Kenyan Athletics Championships ** 400 metres: 2019

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moraa, Mary 2000 births Living people Kenyan female sprinters Place of birth missing (living people) World Athletics Championships athletes for Kenya Athletes (track and field) at the 2019 African Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2023 African Games African Games medalists in athletics (track and field) African Games gold medalists for Kenya African Games bronze medalists for Kenya Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Kenya World Athletics Championships medalists Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Kenya Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2022 Commonwealth Games 21st-century Kenyan women 21st-century Kenyan people Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Diamond League winners World Athletics Championships winners