Mercy Cherono Koech (born 7 May 1991) is a

Kenyan ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

professional

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 ...

. She was the silver medalist in the

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stan ...

at the

2013 World Championships in Athletics The 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Moscow 2013) () was an international athletics competition held in Moscow, Russia, from 10–18 August 2013. Initially, Russia won the most gold medals to top the table for the first time since 200 ...

. She is a two-time world junior champion in the

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000m shoul ...

(2008, 2010) and has also won gold medals at the

2007 World Youth Championships in Athletics The 2007 World Youth Championships in Athletics were the fifth edition of the IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics. They were held on 11–15 July 2007 in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Results Boys Girls Medals table See also ...

and

2008 Commonwealth Youth Games The 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games (Hindi: 2008 कॉमनवेल्थ यूथ गेम्स), officially known as the III Commonwealth Youth Games, and commonly known as Pune 2008, a regional sporting event that was held from 12 to 18 O ...

. She has been a success junior athlete in

cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open coun ...

, taking the silver medals in the junior team and individual competitions at the

2009 IAAF World Cross Country Championships 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

and improving to the gold medals at the 2010 edition.

Career

Cherono made her first international appearance at the

2007 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 2007 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on March 24, 2007. The races were held at the Mombasa Golf Course in Mombasa, Kenya. Four races took place, one for men, women, junior men and junior women respectively. All races encom ...

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

and she finished 23rd in the junior race. She reached her first international podium at the 2007 World Youth Championships as she ran a championship record time of 8:53.94 to win the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

in the

. She had a successful cross county season at the end of the year, taking 6 km junior race victories in three of the

Athletics Kenya Athletics Kenya (AK) is the governing body for the sport of athletics (track and field) in Kenya. It is a member of World Athletics and Confederation of African Athletics. AK organises athletics competitions held in Kenya. It also sends Kenyan team ...

meetings. She had back-to-back wins in the junior race at the

Tuskys Wareng Cross Country The Tuskys Wareng Cross Country is an annual cross country running competition that takes place in November near Eldoret in Kenya. The name is derived from the sponsor, Tuskys Supermarket, which is based in Wareng County. The event was inaugurated ...

in 2007 and 2008. She did not receive selection for the 2008 World Cross Country Championships, but instead focused on track running. First she added a junior title to her youth 3000 m win, beating Bizunesh Urgesa in a time of 8:58.07 to win the gold at the 2008 World Junior Championships in

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more ...

, and then she won the gold at the

, running largely uncontested to set a Games record time. Her place on the Kenyan world cross country team looked uncertain in 2009 as head coach Julius Kirwa dismissed her chances, saying she had run too many races that season. Cherono replied by taking the lead immediately at the Kenyan Trials and winning the junior race by a margin of thirteen seconds. At the 2009 World Cross Country Championships in

Amman Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 a ...

, Cherono engaged in a race-long duel with

Genzebe Dibaba Genzebe Dibaba Keneni (Oromo language, Oromo: ''Ganzabee Dibaabaa Qananii''; Amharic: ገንዘቤ ዲባባ ቀነኒ; born 8 February 1991) is an Ethiopian Middle-distance running, middle- and Long-distance running, long-distance runner. A 150 ...

in the junior race. Cherono took the lead in the final stages but a difficult stretch with a 40-metre climb enabled Dibaba to overtake her and Cherono ended up with the

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

. At the

2009 African Junior Athletics Championships The 2009 African Junior Athletics Championships were held in Bambous, Mauritius from 30 July to 2 August. There were 40 events in total, of which 20 were contested by male athletes and 20 by female athletes. Multiple gold medallists Caster Semeny ...

, Cherono eased to the 3000 m title by some 13 seconds but found herself beaten again by Genzebe Dibaba in 5000 m race, finishing with the silver medal. She competed on the senior track circuit that year and was third at the

Rieti IAAF Grand Prix The Rieti Meeting is an annual athletics event at the Stadio Raul Guidobaldi in Rieti, Italy that takes place in late August or early September. Previously one of the IAAF Grand Prix events, it is now part of the IAAF World Challenge. It was fir ...

, recording a personal best of 8:44.67 for the 3000 m. She took third for a second time at the

Memorial van Damme The Memorial Van Damme is an annual athletics event at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, that takes place in late August or early September. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now the final event of the Diamond L ...

in September, recording personal bests in the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

and

2000 metres The 2000 metres or 2000-metre run is a track running event where five laps are completed around an outdoor 400 m track, or ten laps around a 200 m indoor track - the distance is 11.68 meters short of 1¼ miles. The global governing body World Ath ...

and beaten only by reigning world champions

Gelete Burka Gelete Burka Bati (sometimes misspelled ''Burika'', Oromo: Galate Burqaa Baati, Amharic: ገለቴ ቡርቃ; born 23 January 1986) is an Ethiopian middle-distance and long-distance runner. She was born in Kofele in the Arsi Zone of the Oromia ...

and

Vivian Cheruiyot Vivian Jepkemoi Cheruiyot (born 11 September 1983) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who specialises in track and cross country running. She represented Kenya at the Summer Olympics in 2000, 2008, 2012, and 2016, winning a silver medal at the 5 ...

. She won a junior cross country race on home turf in Kericho in late 2009, but failed to reach the top three at the 2010 Kenyan Trials. Her fourth-place finish was enough to gain a place on the team for the 2010 World Cross Country Championships. Cherono rose to the occasion at the World Championships in Bydgoszcz, the same location as her 2008 World Junior win. She led with her Kenyan teammates for much of the race and she won by a margin of seven seconds, leading home a 1–2–3–4 victory for the Kenyan team. Despite the significant winning margin, she did not need to push herself to the victory, later saying: "In the second lap, I had a lot left". She made her first outing on the

IAAF Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

circuit in May, running a personal best of 14:47.13 for seventh in the

at the

Shanghai Golden Grand Prix The Diamond League Shanghai is an annual athletics event at the Shanghai Stadium in Shanghai, China as part of the Diamond League. The meeting was founded as the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix in 2005. The meet assumed its current name in 2010. From ...

. At the

2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition for athletes under the age of 20 which was held at the Moncton Stadium in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada from 19 to 25 July 2010. A total of 44 athletics ...

, Cherono became the first woman to retain the 3000 m junior title as she held off a challenge from Emebet Anteneh to become the first gold medallist of the event. She also won a silver medal in the 5000 m, finishing behind

. Taking to the senior circuit, she ran at the

in August and took second in the 3000 m behind Sylvia Kibet, setting a new lifetime best of 8:42.09. She turned her focus to senior cross country and won at the AK meet in

Kericho Kericho is the biggest town in Kericho County located in the highlands west of the Kenyan Rift Valley. Standing on the edge of the Mau Forest, Kericho has a warm and temperate climate making it an ideal location for agriculture and in particul ...

in November, while her sister

Caroline Chepkoech Caroline Chepkoech Kipkirui (born 26 May 1994) is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner who competes in distances from 3000 metres to the half marathon. She has worked at the Altay Athletics club in Kazakhstan since 2017 Coach by Ken Rotic ...

went on to win the junior race. She was chosen as the most promising sportswoman at Kenya's annual

SOYA Awards Kenyan Sport Personality of the Year Awards, also known as SOYA Awards, are annual national awards given for sports personalities and organisations in Kenya. The awards were initiated in 2004 by Paul Tergat. The awards for each year are held at th ...

. In January 2011 she ran at the Discovery Kenya Cross Country meet in

Eldoret Eldoret is a principal town in the Rift Valley region of Kenya and serves as the capital of Uasin Gishu County. The town was referred to by white settlers as Farm 64, 64 and colloquially by locals as 'Sisibo'. As per the 2019 Kenya Population ...

, but misjudged her run and slipped into fourth place near the end. Cherono came thirteenth in the national senior cross country race in February 2011. Although she missed out on a place for the world team, she headed to the newly created

2011 African Cross Country Championships The 1st African Cross Country Championships was an international cross country running competition for African athletes which was held on 6 March 2011 in Cape Town, South Africa. Organised by the Confederation of African Athletics, it marked the ...

and won the gold in a medal sweep alongside

Viola Kibiwot Viola Jelagat Kibiwot (born 22 December 1983 in Keiyo District) is a runner from Kenya who specialises in the 1500 metres. Kibiwot won her first international medal as a junior runner at the 2000 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, where s ...

and

Doris Changeywo Doris Chepkwemoi Changeywo (born 12 December 1984) is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner who specialises in the 10,000 metres and cross country running. She began to enjoy success in athletics in 2006, becoming the East African ...

. Her cross country season ended with a top three finish at the

Trofeo Alasport The Trofeo Alasport, also known as the Cross di Alà dei Sardi, is an annual cross country running competition which takes place in March in Alà dei Sardi on the Italy, Italian island of Sardinia. Unusually for a high-profile cross country event, ...

. On the 2011 Diamond League circuit she placed in the top three of the 5000 m 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 ...

and the

Meeting Areva Meeting de Paris (formerly known as the Meeting Areva and Meeting Gaz de France) is an annual track and field meeting at the Stade Sébastien Charléty in Paris, France. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the Diamon ...

. She was chosen for the Kenyan senior track team for the first time and came fifth over 5000 m 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 ...

. She began 2012 win with a sizeable win at the

Campaccio The Campaccio is an annual cross country running competition which takes place in early January in San Giorgio su Legnano, Italy. Organised by the ''Unione Sportiva Sangiorgese'' (Sangiorgese Sports Association), the event attracts participation fr ...

cross country. She missed her chance to run 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 ...

but was dominant on the track circuit that year: she won the

Herculis The Herculis is an annual track and field meet at Stade Louis II in Fontvieille, Monaco. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the Diamond League. World records Over the course of its history, five world reco ...

Athletissima Athletissima is an annual athletics meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the Diamond League. The first edition was held on 8 July 1977 in the Stade Pierre de Coubertin. In ...

and

British Grand Prix The British Grand Prix is a Grand Prix motor race organised in the United Kingdom by the Royal Automobile Club. First held in 1926, the British Grand Prix has been held annually since 1948 and has been a round of the FIA Formula One World C ...

2012 IAAF Diamond League The 2012 IAAF Diamond League (also known as the 2012 Samsung Diamond League for sponsorship purposes) was the third edition of the Diamond League, an annual series of fourteen one-day track and field meetings. The series began on 11 May in Doha, Q ...

meets and was runner-up at the

London Grand Prix The London Diamond League, formerly known as the London Grand Prix and subsequently as the Anniversary Games, is an annual athletics event held in London, England. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the Dia ...

, Weltklasse Zurich and

. A 3000 m personal best of 8:38.51 minutes came at the Herculis meet. After the track season she won the

Cross Internacional de Venta de Baños The Cross Internacional de Venta de Baños is a cross country running competition that takes place in Venta de Baños, Castile and León, Spain. The competition was first held in 1980 and since then it has been held every year in mid-December. Amo ...

and the Cross de Itálica. Cherono won the national trials for the 5000 m and went on to claim the silver medal in the event at the

behind

Meseret Defar Meseret Defar Tola (Amharic: መሠረት ደፋር; born 19 November 1983) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes chiefly in the 3000 metres and 5000 metres events. She has won medals at top-tier international competitions including Ol ...

. On the

2013 IAAF Diamond League The 2013 IAAF Diamond League is the fourth edition of the Diamond League, an annual series of fourteen one-day track and field meetings. The series began on 10 May in Doha, Qatar and ended on 6 September in Brussels, Belgium. Calendar Results ...

circuit she was runner-up in the 1500 m at the

Memorial Van Damme The Memorial Van Damme is an annual athletics event at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, that takes place in late August or early September. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now the final event of the Diamond L ...

, runner-up in the 3000 m at the

DN Galan BAUHAUS-galan, formerly known as DN-Galan is an annual, international athletics meeting that takes place at the Olympic Stadium in Stockholm. Previously it was one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events until 2010, and has since been part of th ...

, and placed in the top three of the 5000 m a both the

and the

Weltklasse Zürich Weltklasse Zürich ( en, World Class Zurich) is an annual, invitation-only, world-class track and field meeting at the Letzigrund in Zürich, Switzerland, generally held at the end of August or beginning of September. Previously one of the IAAF G ...

. She returned to the Cross de Venta de Baños and won for a consecutive season. On 19 August, 2016, Cherono came in 4th place in the 5000m event at the

Rio Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro d ...

in 14:42.89 out of a field of 17 runners

Personal

Cherono is from Kipajit village, near

Sotik Sotik town is an urban centre situated in Sotik Constituency, Sotik Sub-county within Bomet County in the Western region of Kenya and managed by Sotik Town Council. Initially, it was the home of Kipsigis people#Mugenik Barngetuny Araap Sitonik, ...

town. She started running while at Kipajit Primary School and later moved to Chelimo Primary School near

and eventually Ngariet Secondary School in Sotik. She is coached by Gabriel Kiptanui and managed by Gabriel Rosa. She is the oldest of six siblings. Her younger sister Sharon Chepkorir is also a runner. Their father John Koech runs a training camp in Kipajit village. Cherono won the Most Promising Sportswoman of the Year category at the 2009

Kenyan Sports Personality of the Year Kenyan Athlete of the Year, Sport Personality of the Year Awards, also known as SOYA Awards, are annual national awards given for sports personalities and organisations in Kenya. The awards were initiated in 2004 by Paul Tergat. The awards for each ...

awards, and repeated by winning the same category the next year.

Achievements

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cherono, Mercy 1991 births Living people People from Kericho County Kenyan female long-distance runners Kenyan female middle-distance runners Kenyan female cross country runners Olympic athletes of Kenya Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Kenya Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Kenya World Athletics Championships medalists African Cross Country Championships winners Diamond League winners World Athletics record holders (relay) Commonwealth Games competitors for Kenya