Lucy Wangui Kabuu (born 24 March 1984) is a Kenyan

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 ...

who specializes in the 5000 and

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 ...

events. She has represented Kenya twice at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

, finishing in the top ten of the 10,000 m race in both 2004 and 2008. Her personal bests of 14:33.49 minutes for the 5000 m and 30:39.96 minutes for the 10,000 m make her one of Kenya's fastest ever runners in the events. She was based in Japan for her early career. Internationally, she was a team

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 ...

list at the

IAAF World Cross Country Championships World Athletics Cross Country Championships is the most important competition in international cross country running. Formerly held annually and organised by World Athletics (formerly the IAAF), it was inaugurated in 1973, when it replaced the Int ...

in 2005 and was a double long-distance medallist at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

(where she was the 10,000 m champion and 5000 m

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 ...

list). Since 2011 she has competed on the

road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

and has won at the

Great North Run The Great North Run (branded the Simplyhealth Great North Run for sponsorship purposes) is the largest half marathon in the world, taking place annually in North East England each September. Participants run between Newcastle upon Tyne and Sou ...

and the

Delhi Half Marathon Airtel Delhi Half Marathon (ADHM) is an annual half marathon foot-race held in New Delhi, India. Established in 2005, it is both an elite runner and mass participation event. It is an AIMS-certified course and is listed as a Gold Label Road Rac ...

. She made her

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 ...

debut in 2012 and became the eighth fastest woman ever with a time of 2:19:34 hours for second place at the

Dubai Marathon The Dubai Marathon is an annual road-based marathon hosted by Dubai, United Arab Emirates, since 1998. The marathon is categorized as a Gold Label Road Race by World Athletics. History Initial era The inaugural Dubai Marathon was held ...

Career

She was born in 1984 in Ichamara in the Mukurweini/

Nyeri Nyeri is a town situated in the Central Highlands of Kenya. It is the county headquarters of Nyeri County. The town was the central administrative headquarters of the country's former Central Province. Following the dissolution of the former pr ...

region of central Kenya. Her potential for long-distance running was identified when she was at primary school.

John Kanyi John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

, a local runner who was based in Japan, encouraged her to try for an athletic scholarship to enable her to study and train there as well. She performed well in the scholarship selection races and, aged sixteen, won a place at

Aomori Yamada High School is the capital city of Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 278,964 in 136,457 households, and a population density of 340 people per square kilometer spread over the city's total area of ...

. While in Japan, she won 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 ...

at the high school championships and, after graduation in 2002, she commenced training with the

Suzuki is a Japan, Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan. Suzuki manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, All-terrain vehicle, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs ...

Track and Field Club. She signed with

PACE Sports Management PACE Sports Management is a sports management and marketing company based in Monaco and London, directed by Ricky Simms. Background KIM McDonald International management was founded in the 80's by former middle distance runner Kim McDonald. Th ...

and is coached by

Ricky Simms PACE Sports Management is a sports management and marketing company based in Monaco and London, directed by Ricky Simms. Background KIM McDonald International management was founded in the 80's by former middle distance runner Kim McDonald. Th ...

. Wangui set a Kenyan junior record for the 10,000 m in September 2003. She won the

All-Japan Corporate Half Marathon is a name given to championships or governing bodies that are based in Japan. It may also refer to: Combat sport *All Japan Pro Wrestling *All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling *All Japan Kendo Federation * All Japan Ju-Jitsu International Federation ...

title in Yamaguchi the following March. She came first 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 2004

Japanese Athletics Championships The is an annual outdoor track and field competition, organized by Japan Association of Athletics Federations. Currently it takes place in June or July. The competition is also for the qualifying trial for the Japanese national team of internatio ...

, competing as a guest. Following this she was the runner-up in the Kenyan Olympic trials over 10,000 m. Her first major international appearance came at the

2004 Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

in Athens, where she finished ninth in the 10,000 metres event.Lucy Wangui
Sports Reference. Retrieved 27 November 2011. She ran over that distance at the Hyogo Relays meet and had three straight wins from 2005 to 2007. She finished tenth in 5000 metres at the

2005 World Athletics Final The 3rd IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Stade Louis II, in Monte Carlo, Monaco on September 9, and September 10, 2005. The hammer throw event for men and women had to take place in Szombathely, Hungary on September 3 as the Monaco stad ...

. Wangui made her international debut on grass that year at the

2005 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 2005 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on March 19/20, 2005. The races were held at the Hippodrome Joseph Desjoyaux in Saint-Galmier near Saint-Étienne, France. Reports of the event were given in ''The New York Times'', in ...

, where her fifth-place finish in the short race made the Kenyan team a close second to Ethiopia in the team rankings. In March 2006 she won the women's 10,000 metres event at the

with a time of 31 minutes, 29.66 seconds. She also finished third in the 5000 metres. Towards the end of the season she finished tenth in 3000 metres at the

World Athletics Final The IAAF World Athletics Final was an annual track and field competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). It was inaugurated in 2003 to replace the IAAF Grand Prix Final. The competition was part of the ...

. In November she was selected for the Kenyan women's team at the

International Chiba Ekiden The Ekiden#Other_Major_Ekiden_Events_in_Japan, International Chiba Ekiden was an annual team road running competition held in Chiba, Chiba, Chiba, Japan in late November. The marathon relay race (athletics), relay race, or ekiden as it is known in ...

. She was slower than

Maria Konovalova Mariya Ivanovna Konovalova (russian: Мария Ивановна Коновалова; born Mariya Pantyukhova on 14 August 1974 in Angarsk) is a Russian long-distance runner. She has represented Russia in both track running and cross countr ...

on the final leg, but maintained Kenya's lead to win the women's title. The team's time of 2:13:35 hours was later ratified as an African record for the

ekiden is a long-distance running multi-stage relay race, mostly held on roads.Otake, Tomoko. ''One for All.'' Dec. 28, 200The Japan Times accessed Feb. 19, 2009. The original Japanese term had nothing to do with a sport or a competition, but it sim ...

marathon relay. Wangui began her 2008 season with a win at the

Chiba International Cross Country The Chiba International Cross Country is an annual cross country running competition which takes place in Chiba, Japan in mid-February. It is one of the IAAF permit meetings which serve as qualifying events for the IAAF World Cross Country Champio ...

. At the

2008 African Championships in Athletics The 16th African Championships in Athletics was held in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, from April 30 to May 4, 2008. The competition venue was the Addis Ababa Stadium. It is the largest Athletics event held in Ethiopia to date. It was t ...

she finished fourth in 10,000 m behind a trio of Ethiopian's led by

Tirunesh Dibaba Tirunesh Dibaba ( om, Xirunesh Dibaabaa, Amharic: ጥሩነሽ ዲባባ ቀነኒ; born 1 June 1985) is an Ethiopian athlete who competed in long-distance track events and international road races. She has won three Olympic track gold medals, ...

. At the national Olympic trials she won the 10,000 m and came second over 5000 m. Despite her wish to compete in both events, the Kenyan selectors instead chose her just for the 10,000 m, choosing

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 ...

for the shorter distance instead. In her second outing on the Olympic stage at the

2008 Beijing Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

she finished seventh in the 10,000 metres, running a personal best time of 30:39.96 minutes. After a competitive break in 2009 and 2010, due to an

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus (h ...

injury then pregnancy, she returned to action on the

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ac ...

circuit. She had wins at the

half marathon and the

Great Edinburgh Run The Great Edinburgh Run was an annual ten-mile road running event which took place in the city centre of Edinburgh in Scotland. The last event was in April 2017 and the organiser have no plans to reinstate the event at present. Part of the Great ...

10K in September and October. She then travelled to the

and won in a personal best of 1:07:04 hours ahead of fellow Kenyan

Sharon Cherop Sharon Jemutai Cherop (born 16 March 1984) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who specialises in the marathon. She won a bronze medal at the age of sixteen in the 5000 metres at the World Junior Championships. She was the bronze medal winne ...

. She made her debut over the

distance in January 2012 at the

. In one of the fastest races ever at that point, she completed the race in 2:19:34 hours to take second place just three seconds behind defending champion

Aselefech Mergia Aselefech Mergia Medessa ( Oromo: ''Asallafach Margaa Mardaasaa''; Amharic: አሰለፈች መርጊያ; born 23 January 1985) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes in the marathon. She was a bronze medallist in the event at the 2009 ...

. This was among the fastest ever debuts by a woman and ranked her eighth in the all-time lists. She placed fifth at the

2012 London Marathon The 2012 London Marathon was the 32nd running of the annual marathon race in London, England, which took place on Sunday, 22 April. Both of the elite races were won by Kenyan athletes, and Ethiopia's Tsegaye Kebede was the only non-Kenyan to re ...

in April, but missed out on the

2012 London 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 ...

as she failed to finish in the 10,000 m trial race 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 ...

. In her third marathon of the year, she reached the podium with a third-place finish at the

2012 Chicago Marathon The 2012 Chicago Marathon was the 35th edition of the annual marathon race in Chicago, Illinois and was held on Sunday, October 7. An IAAF Gold Label Road Race, it was the fourth and final World Marathon Majors event to be held that year. Tsega ...

. She won the 2013

Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon is an annual half marathon held in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. History The first event, in 2007, saw Samuel Wanjiru breaking the world record, but Wanjiru himself set a new world record only a month later in ...

with a new personal best of 1:06:09, just 19 seconds off Mary Keitany's world record. Kabuu ran the third fastest ever time over 25 kilometres to win 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 ...

in May, crossing the line in 1:21:37 hours. She was selected for the Kenyan marathon team 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 ...

but performed poorly in Moscow, finishing 24th in a time of 2:44:06 hours. He last outing that year was a third-place finish at the

Personal bests

*All information taken from IAAF profile.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wangui, Lucy 1984 births Living people People from Nyeri County Kenyan female long-distance runners Kenyan female marathon runners Olympic athletes of Kenya Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Kenya Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Kenya Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Kenyan female cross country runners 21st-century Kenyan women