Alice Jemeli Timbilil (born 1 February 1983 in

Moiben Moiben is a settlement in Moiben Constituency, of Uasin Gishu County of Kenya's former Rift Valley Province Rift Valley Province () of Kenya, bordering Uganda, was one of Kenya's eight provinces, before the 2013 Kenyan general election. ...

, Uasin Gishu District) is a Kenyan 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 stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance ru ...

. She is a two-time Olympian, having competed over

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 ...

at both the

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

and

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

. She initially started her career on the track, becoming the World Youth Champion in the 10,000 m and running 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 de Sevilla, Seville, Spain, between the Augus ...

at the age of sixteen. She won a junior

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, ...

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 IA ...

and made her Olympic track debut the following year. She continued to mix track and cross country, making her second Olympic appearance at the 2004 Athens Games and securing a senior silver 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'', ...

. After taking 2006 out due to the birth of her first child, she returned in 2007 and switched her focus to

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 ru ...

competitions. She represented Kenya at the 2007 IAAF World Road Running Championships and won the

Saint Silvester Road Race The Saint Silvester Road Race () is a long-distance running event, the oldest and most prestigious street race in Brazil. Regarded as the main international event in Latin American athletics, the Brazilian competition is held yearly in the cit ...

. She made her

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), 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 ...

debut in 2008 and took her first win in the event two years later at the 2010

Amsterdam Marathon The Amsterdam Marathon, currently branded as TCS Amsterdam Marathon, is an annual marathon (42.195 km) in Amsterdam in the Netherlands since 1975. The road running, road race has a IAAF Road Race Label Events, Platinum Label from World Athle ...

Career

World youth champion

Timbilil started running while at Kemeliet Primary school. She won Kenyan Championships in

in 1999, aged only 16. At the 1999 World Youth Championships in Athletics she won

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 3000 m sho ...

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 b ...

. She competed also at the 1999 World Championships, but did not finish the 10,000 metres final after seemingly miscalculating the number of laps. She did not start high school until 2000, aged 17, when she joined Kapkenda Secondary School.James Wokabi and Mutwiri Mutuota (10 October 2007)
Focus on Kenya – Alice TIMBILIL

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

. Retrieved on 20 October 2010. It was in the field of

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 soil, earth, pass through woodlands and ope ...

that she gained her first major junior medal, running at the

. Timbilil took the

behind

Vivian Cheruiyot Vivian Jepkemoi Cheruiyot (born 11 September 1983) is a Kenyan Long-distance running, long-distance runner. She represented Kenya at the Athletics at the Summer Olympics, Summer Olympics in 2000, 2008, 2012, and 2016, winning the silver medal i ...

, completing a Kenyan sweep of the medals which led the junior women to the team gold. At the age of seventeen, she gained selection for the

2000 Sydney Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

and reached the 10,000 m final, finishing in fourteenth place with a personal best run of 31:50.22. She was still eligible for the junior competition 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 she was far from medal-winning form and finished in sixteenth place.

World cross country medallist

She took a cross country circuit wins at the Cinque Mulini in 2003 and the Oeiras International Cross Country in 2004. At the

2004 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 2004 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on March 20/21, 2004. The races were held at the Ossegem Park in Brussels, the capital of Belgium. Reports of the event were given in ''The New York Times'', and for the IAAF. ...

she just missed out on the medals by finishing in fourth place behind Werknesh Kidane, although she did lead the Kenyan women to a team silver medal in the long race. She took to the Olympic stage for a second time later that year, but she failed to build on her cross country success at the 2004 Athens Games and finished in sixteenth place in the 10,000 m Olympic final. She delivered in the long race at the

the following year, however, as she edged between

Tirunesh Dibaba Tirunesh Dibaba (, Amharic: ጥሩነሽ ዲባባ ቀነኒ; born 1 October 1985) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner athlete who competes in long-distance track events and international road races. She has won three Olympic track gold meda ...

and Werknesh to take her first major senior medal, and also leading Kenyan to a consecutive team silver behind Ethiopia. Returning to the track, she ran at the

2005 World Championships in Athletics The 10th World Championships in Athletics (, ), under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland (6 August 2005 – 14 August 2005), the site of the first ...

but did not manage to finish the race, repeating her disappointing World performance of six years earlier.

Focus on road running

Timbilil won the

in 2007, running 15 km in 53:07. At the 2007 IAAF World Road Running Championships she finished in ninth place. She made her marathon debut at the 2008

Paris Marathon The Paris Marathon () is an annual marathon (sport), marathon hosted by the city of Paris, France. It is the largest running event in France in terms of finishers and is typically among the five largest marathons in the world. The marathon begi ...

and she set a time of 2:26:45 for fifth position. Her first major race of 2010 came at the Roma Ostia Half Marathon in February, which she won in a time of 1:10:34, beating home favourite

Rosaria Console Rosaria Console, better known as Rosalba (born 17 December 1979 in Martina Franca, Taranto) is an Italian long-distance runner who specializes in the half marathon and marathon. Biography She won four medals, one of these at junior level, at the ...

. Timbilil took part in the 2010 BIG 25 road race in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in May and took second place with 1:24:38, although this was over three and a half minutes slower than

Mary Keitany Mary Jepkosgei Keitany (born 18 January 1982) is a Kenyan former professional long distance runner. She was the world record holder in a women-only marathon, having won the 2017 London Marathon in a time of 2:17:01. As of November 2022, she ...

who set a world record. She took on Keitany at the Portugal Half Marathon and was second best again, although she beat the rest of the field by some twenty seconds. At the 2010

, she was among the leaders from the start and by the 35 km mark she had outrun the field, eventually winning the race by a margin of two minutes with a personal best of 2:25:03. She ended the year by setting a course record at the Saint Silvester Road Race. In 2010, she not only won her first marathon, but had improved all her personal bests over 10K, 15K, 25K and the marathon. She was runner-up at the Goyang Half Marathon then placed eighth at the

2011 Boston Marathon The 2011 Boston Marathon took place on Monday, April 18, 2011, as the 115th official running of the Boston Marathon. On October 18, 2010, the 20,000 spots reserved for qualifiers were filled in a record-setting eight hours and three minutes. Geof ...

the following month. In July she was runner-up at the

Peachtree Road Race The Peachtree Road Race (branded AJC Peachtree Road Race for sponsorship reasons) is a series of two 10-kilometer runs held annually in Atlanta, once during the first weekend of January and the other on Independence Day. They are held on the sa ...

and winner of the

Boilermaker Road Race The Boilermaker Road Race is a USATF-certified 15K run, foot race and wheelchair racing, wheelchair race held annually in Utica, New York, Utica, New York (state), New York, United States. Although local recreational runners are the majority of ...

, but did not compete again until late 2013. After a runner-up finish at a half marathon in

Kisii Kisii may refer to: * Kisii, Kenya, a municipality and the capital of Kisii County * Kisii County, one of the 47 counties of Kenya * Kisii District, a former district of Kenya * Gucha District, in Kenya, also known as ''South Kisii District'' * Nya ...

she returned to the major circuit with a third-place finish at the

Personal life

She is married to Mark Sinyei (a farmer) and she gave birth to their first son, Collins Kimutai, in March 2006. She comes from an athletic family which includes runner and African Champion

Nancy Lagat Nancy Jebet Langat (born 22 August 1981) is a Kenyan middle distance runner who specialises in the 1,500 metres. She won the gold medal in the 1,500 m at the 2008 Summer Olympics, in a personal best time of 4:00.23. She also competed at the 2 ...

– her aunt. Timbilil is managed by

Federico Rosa Federico (; ) is a given name and surname. It is a form of Frederick, most commonly found in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. People with the given name Federico Arts and language * Federico Ágreda, Venezuelan composer and DJ * Federico Aguil ...

and is based at the Nike camp in Kaptagat. She comes from the same village as another female runner

Competition record

* 5 km Cross Country in Grand Prix Media Blenio * Philadelphia Half Marathon *

Saltillo Saltillo () is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Coahuila and is also the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name. Mexico City, Monterrey, and Saltillo are all connected by a major railroad and high ...

Half-Marathon * New Delhi Half Marathon. * 2009

Lisbon Half Marathon EDP Lisbon Half Marathon is an annual international half marathon competition which is contested every March in Lisbon, Portugal. It carries IAAF Gold Label Road Race status. The men's course record of 57:31 was set by Jacob Kiplimo in 2021, which ...

.IAAF, 22 March 2009
Lel and Goucher win in Lisbon
* 2010 Roma Ostia Half Marathon

References

External links

*
Marathon Info profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Timbilil, Alice 1983 births Living people Athletes from Uasin Gishu County Kenyan female long-distance runners Kenyan female marathon runners Olympic athletes for Kenya Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Kenya Kenyan female cross country runners 21st-century Kenyan sportswomen