Ruth Chepng'etich, often spelt Ruth Chepngetich, (born 8 August 1994) is a Kenyan road racing athlete, who competes in the marathon and other long distance events. She was the 2019 Marathon World champion in hot and humid conditions. Chepng'etich twice won the

Chicago Marathon The Chicago Marathon is a marathon (long-distance foot race) held every October in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the six World Marathon Majors. Thus, it is also a World Athletics Label Road Race. The Chicago Marathon is the fourth-largest r ...

, in

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

and

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 ...

. Her personal best in the marathon sits second on the world all-time list. She holds the third-fastest mark of all time for the

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 ...

. She is related to

Rosefline Chepngetich Rosefline Chepngetich (born 17 June 1997) is a Kenyan steeplechase runner. She holds a personal best of 9:35.75 minutes for the 3000 metres steeplechase and is ranked third on the all-time youth lists for the 2000 m steeplechase distance. I ...

Career

In 2018, Ruth Chepng'etich won the women's only road race at the 40th

Istanbul Marathon The Istanbul Marathon ( tr, İstanbul Maratonu, also known as N Kolay Istanbul Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an international athletics event hosted in Istanbul, Turkey, in November, first held in 1979. It is the only marathon in the w ...

( World Athletics Label Road Race). She ran 2:18:35 (31:59 – 10 km, 48:15 – 15 km, 1:08:22 – Half marathon, 1:37:42 – 30 km), a race record, best performance ever on Turkish soil, and the seventh best time in history, becoming the 10th athlete of all time to go below 2:19 and 30th under 2:20.

2019

At the 20th

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 ...

, Chepng'etich celebrated victory in a course record-breaking time of 2 hours, 17 minutes and 8 seconds. She ran the then-20th fastest Half marathon of all-time at the Bahrain Night Half Marathon in a time of 66m 9s. Chepng'etich achieved the then-12th fastest Half marathon of all-time at the Vodafone Istanbul Half Marathon with a 65m 30s clocking. On 28 September, she won the world title during the

2019 World Athletics Championships The 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships () was the seventeenth edition of the biennial, global athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), since renamed World Athletics. It was held betw ...

in Doha, Qatar, clocking 2:32.43 after a start at midnight during very hot and humid conditions. The silver medal went to

Rose Chelimo Rose Chelimo (born 12 July 1989) is a Kenyan-born Bahraini long-distance runner who competes in road running events up to the marathon distance. She is the 2017 IAAF world champion. She represented Bahrain at the 2016 Summer Olympics, placing eig ...

representing Bahrain with 2:33:46, and bronze to Namibia's 39-year-old

Helalia Johannes Helalia Lukeiko Johannes (born 13 August 1980), also known as Hilaria Johannes, is a Namibian long-distance runner who specializes in the marathon. She holds the List of Namibian records in athletics, Namibian records in the 10 km, 20 ...

with 2:34:15. Chepng'etich's time was the slowest world championship winning time so far. The second slowest happened in 2007 when

Catherine Ndereba Catherine Nyambura Ndereba (born 21 July 1972) is a Kenyan marathon runner. She has twice won the marathon at the World Championships in Athletics and won silver medals at the Summer Olympic Games in 2004 and 2008. She is ...

won in 2:30.37 in Osaka. Only 40 out of 68 starters finished the race in Doha.

2020–21

On 4 October, she finished third in

London Marathon The London Marathon is an annual marathon held in London, United Kingdom, and is the 2nd largest annual road race in the UK, after the Great North Run in Newcastle. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically he ...

. On 4 April 2021, Chepng'etich set a half marathon world record of 1:04:02 at the Istanbul Half Marathon in Turkey, taking 29 seconds off the previous best set by

Ababel Yeshaneh Ababel Yeshaneh Birhane (born 22 July 1991) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes in track, road and cross country events. She represented her country in the 10,000 metres at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics, coming ninth, ...

in 2020. On 10 October, she took her first victory at a

World Marathon Major The World Marathon Majors (WMM) (known for sponsorship reasons as the Abbott World Marathon Majors) is a championship-style competition for marathon runners that started in 2006. A points-based competition founded on six major marathon races reco ...

by winning the

2021 Chicago Marathon The 2021 Chicago Marathon was held on October 10, 2021. It was the 43rd edition of the annual Chicago Marathon, and the first after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019. The 2020 Chicago Marathon was canceled as a result of the pandemic. ...

with a time of 2:22:31. She went out fast (67:34 first half) and concluded very much slower (74:57), but stil won by nearly two minutes.

2022–present

On 13 March, Chepng'etich posted the second-fastest ever women-only marathon time to win the Nagoya Women's Marathon in Japan (World Athletics Elite Platinum Label). She ran a negative split 2:17:18 (69:03 / 68:15), which being also the joint seventh-fastest time in history, and obviously a course record, gave her 87 seconds margin of victory. She won $250,000, which was the biggest official prize in professional running up to that point. On 9 October, petite Kenyan successfully defended her Chicago title at the 2022 Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:14:18, a personal best by almost three minutes, the second-fastest time in history, and just 14 seconds outside of the compatriot

Brigid Kosgei Brigid Jepchirchir Kosgei (born 20 February 1994) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who specialises in the marathon. She won the 2018 and 2019 Chicago Marathons, the 2019 and 2020 London Marathons and the 2021 Tokyo Marathon. Kosgei is the curre ...

's world record (2:14:04). Chepng'etich ran most of the race well under world record pace as she went out very fast with first 10 miles (49:49) faster than the standing world best. She clocked first half in 65:44 before running her second half a lot slower (68:34). The win made her the first woman in history to break the 2:18-barrier on three separate occasions. Chepng'etich's split times:

Achievements

Personal bests

International competitions

National championships

* Kenyan Athletics Championships **

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 ...

: 2022

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chepng'etich, Ruth Living people 1994 births Kenyan female long-distance runners Kenyan female marathon runners Kenyan female cross country runners People from Rift Valley Province World Athletics Championships winners World Athletics Championships athletes for Kenya Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Kenya Chicago Marathon female winners