Paul Malakwen Kosgei (born 22 April 1978, in Marakwet) is a Kenyan long-distance and

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 ...

runner. He first came to prominence in athletics by taking the World Junior Record of 3000m steeple in 1997, and later with consecutive medals at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships from 1998 to 2000. In 1999 he started his technical collaboration with the Italian Coach Renato Canova, that changed his event, looking at longer distances. He made his debut at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in 2002 and became the surprise world champion for the event. Later that year he became the African champion on the track in the

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 race ...

and also won

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 ...

s at the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coin ...

and

2002 IAAF World Cup The 9th IAAF World Cup in Athletics was an international track and field sporting event sponsored by the International Association of Athletics Federations. It was hosted by Madrid, September 21–22, 2002, in the Estadio La Peineta. The IAAF worl ...

. He focused on entirely on road running after 2002 and he broke the world record for the 25 km distance, running 1:12:45 in May 2004. His personal best over the half marathon (59:07 minutes), with which he won the 2006 Berlin Half Marathon, ranks him within the top ten fastest ever over the distance. He began to focus on marathon running and won his first race at the Maratona d'Italia in 2010 with a course record and personal best time of 2:09.00. From 2009 there was a passage of coach, from Renato Canova to Gabriele Nicola, who is a student of the former coach.

Career

Junior world record and first medals

Kosgei started his international career as a cross country runner and a

steeplechase Steeplechase may refer to: * Steeplechase (horse racing), a type of horse race in which participants are required to jump over obstacles * Steeplechase (athletics), an event in athletics that derives its name from the steeplechase in horse racing ...

r. He came to prominence as a junior athlete in 1997 when he took the junior

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

at the

1997 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 1997 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on 23 March 1997. The races were held at the Parco del Valentino in Torino, Italy. A report of the event was given in ''The New York Times'', in the Herald, and for the IAAF. Compl ...

, and he also reached the 1997 IAAF Grand Prix Final for the

3000 metres steeplechase The 3000 metres steeplechase or 3000-meter steeplechase (usually abbreviated as ) is the most common distance for the steeplechase in track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, a ...

. He established his pedigree by setting a world junior record for the event. He emerged as a senior the following year, taking the bronze in the short race at the

1998 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 1998 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on March 21/22, 1998. The races were held at the Menara district in Marrakech, Morocco. Reports of the event were given in ''The New York Times'', in the Herald, and for the IAAF. ...

and helping Kenya to the team

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 ...

. He also led Kenya to a team victory at the IAAF World Road Relay Championships in

Manaus Manaus () is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. It is the seventh-largest city in Brazil, with an estimated 2020 population of 2,219,580 distributed over a land area of about . Located at the east center of the s ...

in April. He was the fourth fastest athlete in the world that year in the steeplechase. He also began taking part in road running competitions and won the 10 km

BOclassic The BOclassic is an annual road running competition over the distance of 10 kilometres for men and 5 kilometres for women. It is held on New Year's Eve in Bolzano, Italy. The competition has only elite races, competed between a limited number of ...

race at the end of the year. He improved to the

position at the

1999 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 1999 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on 27 and 28 March 1999. The races were held at the Barnett Demesne/ Queen's University Playing Fields in Belfast, United Kingdom. Reports of the event were given in ''The New York Tim ...

, finishing behind Paul Tergat to help Kenya to a consecutive team win. He represented his country on the track at the

1999 World Championships in Athletics The 7th World Championships in Athletics, a World Athletic Championships event held under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Estadio Olímpico, Seville, Spain, between the August 20 and Augu ...

in Seville, where he was seventh in the men's steeplechase. He closed his track season with a fifth-place finish at the

1999 IAAF Grand Prix Final The 1999 IAAF Grand Prix Final was the fifteenth edition of the season-ending competition for the IAAF Grand Prix track and field circuit, organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations. It was held on 11 September at the Olymp ...

African and World Champion

From 2000 onwards he later began concentrating on

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

and dropped his steeplechase speciality. He set a 10 km best of 27:40 to win the

Parelloop Parelloop (''Pearl Run'' in English) is an annual 10 kilometres road running competition usually held in late March or early April in Brunssum, Netherlands. The inaugural edition was held in 1989. In 2009, Micah Kogo broke the world record for th ...

race in

Brunssum Brunssum (; li, Broensem) is a municipality and a town in the province of Limburg in the Netherlands. The municipality of Brunssum has residents as of . Brunssum was a center of coal mining until 1973. Population centres Topography Histor ...

that year. He also took a third consecutive cross country medal at the

2000 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 2000 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on March 18/19, 2000. The races were held at the Sporting Complex in Vilamoura, Portugal. Reports of the event were given in ''The New York Times'', in the Herald, and for the IAAF ...

, continuing the streak of Kenya team victories with his bronze medal performance. He took road circuit wins in Europe at the Giro Podistico Internazionale di Pettinengo, winning the 9.5 km race in 27:03, and also at the Giro al Sas 10K in Trento. He ran for Kenya in the long race at the

2001 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 2001 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on March 24/25, 2001. The races were held at the Hippodrome Wellington in Ostend (Oostende), Belgium. Reports of the event were given in ''The New York Times'', in the ''Herald'', ...

but could not match his short course form and finished in fifth place. The greater distances also did not bring him medals at the

2001 World Championships in Athletics The 8th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between 3 August and 12 August and was the first time the event ...

as he finished seventh in the

final. He was the winner of the 2001 Giro Media Blenio 10K race in Dongio, recording a time of 28:13.4. The 2002 marked a significant breakthrough for Kosgei in both track and road running. In May, he led the Kenyan team to victory at the

2002 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships The 11th IAAF World Half Marathon Championships was held on May 5, 2002 in the city of Brussels, Belgium. A total of 198 athletes, 123 men and 75 women, from 60 countries took part. Detailed reports on the event and an appraisal of the results were ...

with a time of 1:00:39. He edged out Jaouad Gharib to win the race on his first attempt at the half marathon distance. His first time success did not make him an immediate convert, however: "I have changed my focus from the steeplechase to the 10,000 metres ... Maybe in two or three years I will start to think about running the marathon". Kosgei became the Kenyan champion over 10,000 m that summer, and his next test came at the

in Manchester, England. He was entered into the 10,000 m race and was second behind his Kenyan compatriot Wilberforce Talel – Kosgei's finishing time of 27:45.46 was seven hundredths of a second behind Talel, who broke the Games record for the event. He went unbeaten over the distance at the

2002 African Championships in Athletics The 13th African Championships in Athletics were held in Tunis and Radès, Tunisia in August, 2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her d ...

the following month, beating John Cheruiyot Korir to the continental title. As African champion, he was selected to represent the continental at the

. He took 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 ...

behind the reigning European champion Alberto García (who was banned in 2003 for taking EPO). Among Kosgei's other honours that year was a silver medal from the World Military Track and Field Championships.

Road running world record

After a relatively quiet 2003, Kosgei again came to the fore by setting a world record for the 25 km road distance, winning the

BIG 25 Berlin The BIG 25 Berlin (german: 25 km von Berlin) is an annual road running competition over 25 kilometres that takes place in Berlin, Germany in early May. The competition was created in 1981 by the French Forces in Berlin stationed in West Berl ...

race in 1:12:45 on 9 May 2004 (a record which stood until 2010 when it was beaten by

Samuel Kosgei Samuel Kiplimo Kosgei (January 20, 1986) is a Kenyan-born American long-distance runner who specializes in road running competitions. One of his first international competitions was the Outer Banks Half Marathon in 2007, where he finished firs ...

at the same race). Kosgei won the Berlin Half Marathon in 2006, setting a half marathon personal best of 59:07 minutes as well as bettering his marks over 15 km and 20 km along the way. He competed at the 2007 Hamburg Marathon and Amsterdam Marathon, finishing 14th and 10th, respectively. Kosgei was one of four men under an hour at the Rotterdam Half Marathon in 2008 and his time of 59:37 brought him fourth place. He took three consecutive wins at the Amatrice-Configno road race from 2008 to 2010, building upon his first win in 2003. He posted a personal record of 2:09:12 hours at the 2008

Paris Marathon The Paris Marathon (french: Marathon de Paris) is an annual marathon hosted by the city of Paris, France. It is the marathon with the second-most finishers in the world, behind the New York City Marathon. The marathon begins along the Cham ...

, where he finished eighth. He scored his first victory over the marathon distance at the Maratona d'Italia in October 2010, where he set a new course record of 2:09:00.

Personal life

Kosgei is married and has two children. He is currently coached by Italian Gabriele Nicola.

International competitions

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kosgei, Paul Malakwen 1978 births Living people People from Elgeyo-Marakwet County Kenyan male long-distance runners Kenyan male steeplechase runners Kenyan male marathon runners Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Kenya Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Half Marathon Championships winners World Athletics Championships athletes for Kenya World record setters in athletics (track and field) Kenyan male cross country runners Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games