Ruth Chepng'etich, often spelt Ruth Chepngetich, (born 8 August 1994) is a Kenyan

road racing Road racing is a form of motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held either on a closed circuit or on a street circuit utilizing temporarily closed public roads. Originally, road races were held almost entirely on p ...

athlete, who competes in the

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 di ...

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 Races, World Athletics Label Road Race. The Chicago ...

, 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 monkeyp ...

. 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 shortcu ...

. She is related to Rosefline Chepngetich.

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 ...

( 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 bet ...

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

. 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 in 2020. On 10 October, she took her first victory at a World Marathon Major by winning the 2021 Chicago Marathon 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 The , named until the 2010 race, is an annual marathon race for female runners over the classic distance of 42 km and 195 metres, held in Nagoya, Japan in early March every year. It holds World Athletics Platinum road race status. It ...

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 The 2022 Chicago Marathon was the 44th edition of the annual marathon race in Chicago, held on Sunday, . An Elite Platinum Label marathon, it was the third of four World Marathon Majors events to be held over the span of six weeks. More than ...

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 curr ...

'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 The Kenyan Athletics Championships is an annual track and field meeting which serves as Kenya's national championships for the sport. Athletics Kenya, the country's governing body for athletics organises the event. The championships is usually ...

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