Kipchoge and Jepchirchir: Who else makes Kenya's marathon squad for Olympic Games?
The final squad of five men and six women was picked from the provisional team released last December containing 10 men and 10 women. A statement from Athletics Kenya (AK) obtained by Flashscore confirmed the team had already been handed over to the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) to begin preparations for the Games. The teams will be coached by Amos Korir, Nicholas Koech, and Patrick Sang while former marathoner Mary Keitany is the team coordinator.
Those dropped from the men’s initial squad include Bernard Kiprop Koech, Geoffrey Kamworor, Cyprian Kotut, Amos Kipruto, Titus Kipruto, while Joycilline Jepkosgei, Sheila Chepkirui, Judith Jeptum Korir, and Seley Chepyego Kaptich were left out of the women’s list.
Below, Flashcore provides insight into the athletes, starting with the men’s team, as the East African nation gears up to sweep medals in Paris.
Eliud Kipchoge (39)
Kipchoge, who is regarded as one of the greatest marathoners of all time, is the 2016 and 2020 Olympic marathon champion and was the world record holder in the marathon from 2018 to 2023, with a time of 2:01:09 set at the 2022 Berlin Marathon.
However, the record was broken by the late Kelvin Kiptum at the 2023 Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:00:35. Kipchoge, who claimed his first individual world championship title in 2003 by winning the junior race at the World Cross Country Championships and setting a world junior record over 5000m on the track, has run four of the 10 fastest marathons in history. He became the senior 5000m world champion at the 2003 World Championships with a championship record, followed by an Olympic bronze in 2004 and a bronze at the 2006 World Indoor Championships.
A five-time World Championship 5000m finalist, Kipchoge took silver medals at the 2007 World Championships, 2008 Beijing Olympics, and 2010 Commonwealth Games. In Paris, he will be keen to write his name in history books as the first athlete to win three consecutive Olympic marathon titles.
Munyao Alexander (27)
His personal best of 57:59 in the half marathon set at the 2020 Valencia Half Marathon is the fourth fastest time ever and he also won the 2023 Prague International Marathon at a course record of 2:05:09.
Before venturing into road running, Munyao had successfully shone at the 3,000m world youth championship in Donetsk where he clocked 7:56.86 to win bronze, he also took part 5000m race in Kumamoto, Japan and clocked 13:21.90. He was also superb in the 10, 000m race, having clocked 27:23.03 to win in Yokohama.
Timothy Kiplagat (27)
Kiplagat hit the limelight on December 17th, 2022, when he raced at Abu Dhabi Marathon. After setting the pace for the lead pack, Kiplagat eventually found himself alone at the front, he eventually decided to finish the race and won it by over four minutes, clocking 2:05:20, turning out to be his personal best.
In 2022, Kiplagat shattered compatriot Dominic Ondoro’s course record in claiming his first Melbourne Marathon title. Kiplagat ran two hours, nine minutes and 12 seconds, going under the 2:10:47 that Ondoro had set when he took the first of his two successive Melbourne wins in 2013. He also finished second in the Rotterdam Marathon in 2023 as part of his promising career as a Marathon runner.
During the 2023 World Athletics Championships men’s marathon in Budapest on August 27th, 2023, Kiplagat joined the field but managed to finish 14th after clocking 2:11:25. His recent race was at the Tokyo Marathon where he finished second after clocking 2:02:55, just a few seconds behind compatriot and winner Benson Kipruto.
Benson Kipruto (33)
He won the 125th Boston Marathon in 2021 (2:09:51), the 2022 Chicago Marathon (2:04:24) and the 2024 Tokyo Marathon in a personal best of 2:02:16, where he also set a new course record. Kipruto finished third at the 2022 and 2023 Boston Marathon with times of 2:07:27 and 2:06:06 respectively.
In 2023, he finished second in the 2023 Chicago Marathon, with a personal best time of 2:04:02, 3 minutes behind compatriot and the late Kiptum, who broke the Marathon world record. He won the 2018 Toronto Waterfront Marathon (2:07:24) and the 2021 Prague Marathon (2:10:16).
In 2016, he finished second at the Athens Classic Marathon with a time of 2:13:24, he was fourth at the Prague Marathon, second at the Gongju Dong-A Marathon in 2017, but third at the Seoul Marathon while in 2019 he came home 10th in the Boston Marathon.
Vincent Ngetich (24)
Ngetich won the 2022 Madrid Half Marathon with a time of 1:01:05, and the 2023 10 km de Port-Gentil with a time of 28:11. In his debut at the marathon distance, he finished second at the 2023 Berlin Marathon with a time of 2:03:13, 31 seconds behind his compatriot Kipchoge, who held the marathon world record.
His personal best stands at 59:09, achieved at the Copenhagen Half Marathon in 2022.
Women's team
Peres Jepchirchir (30)
Jepchirchir won the gold medal in the women's marathon at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and was the champion at the 2016 and 2020 World Half Marathon Championships. She claimed victories at the 2021 New York City and 2022 Boston Marathon and finished third at the 2023 London Marathon.
Her best time for the half marathon of 1:05:06, set on February 10th, 2017, in the UAE, is a former half marathon world record. She holds the women's only half marathon world record of 1:05:16 set at the 2020 World Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia, Poland, an improvement on her previous record.
Brigid Kosgei (30)
Kosgei's success started in 2017 when she won the Bogota Half Marathon and came third at the Copenhagen Half Marathon. She came second in the 2017 Chicago Marathon with a personal best time of 2:20:22. She later won the 2018 and 2019 Chicago Marathons, the 2019 and 2020 London Marathons and the 2021 Tokyo Marathon. Kosgei was the marathon world record holder for women running in a mixed-sex race, with a time of 2:14:04 achieved on October 13th, 2019, at the Chicago Marathon.
She won the silver medal in the marathon event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. At the 2024 ADNOC Abu Dhabi Marathon, Kosgei broke the course record with a time of 2:19:15.
Ruth Chepng’etich (29)
In 2019, Chepng’etich pulled a spectacular last kick to win the World Marathon Athletics championship in Doha, Qatar under hot and humid conditions. Chepng'etich twice won the Chicago Marathon, in 2021 and 2022. Her personal best in the marathon sits second on the world's all-time list. She holds the third-fastest mark of all time for the half marathon.
At the 20th Dubai Marathon, Chepng'etich celebrated victory in a course record-breaking time of 2:17:08. She ran the then-20th fastest Half marathon of all time at the Bahrain Night Half Marathon in a time of 66:09. Chepng'etich achieved the then-12th fastest half marathon of all time at the Vodafone Istanbul Half Marathon with a time of 65:30.
Hellen Obiri (34)
Born in Kisii, Obiri will be debuting at the Olympic Games. The former Kenyan national record holder for the mile and the 5000m, is a two-time Olympic 5,000m silver medallist from the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where she also placed fourth over the 10,000m.
She is a two-time world champion after winning the 5,000m in 2017 and again in 2019, when she set a new championship record. She also took world bronze for the 1,500m in 2013 and silver for the 10,000m in 2022. She won the 3,000m race at the 2012 World Indoor Championships, claimed silver in 2014, and placed fourth in 2018. She is the 2019 World Cross Country champion and triumphed in the 2023 Boston and New York Marathons, just her second and third marathon races.
Sharon Lokedi (30)
Lokedi, who joined the University of Kansas in 2015 after leaving Kapkenda Girls’ School, where she was known for winning the 3000m and 5000m races and was named the school's Best Athlete of the Year in 2013, has been a 10-time All-American & 12-time Big 12 champion, as of March 2019.
In her first race as a professional, Lokedi easily won the Carlsbad 5000m in 15:38 while in November 2022, she pulled off an upset when debuting in the marathon as she triumphed by seven seconds in the New York City Marathon with a time of 2:23:23.
Rosemary Wanjiru (29)
Having moved to Japan as a teenager. Wanjiru started running in the 3000m at the 2012 National Sports Festival of Japan and won the national high schools championship over that distance the following year along with the Chiba International Cross Country title.
She grew in confidence and later won the silver medal in the 5000m at the 2015 African Games, and represented Kenya at the 2019 World Athletics Championships, finishing fourth in the 10,000m. Wanjiru won the 2023 Tokyo Marathon and placed second at the 2022 Berlin Marathon. With her Tokyo time, she sits sixth on the marathon world all-time list. Wanjiru achieved the second-fastest-ever women's marathon debut at the 2022 Berlin Marathon.
