 Kirui on the podium after winning gold at the2011 World Championships | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1982-04-06)6 April 1982 (age 43) |
| Sport | |
| Country | Kenya |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Event | Marathon |
| Team | NN Running Team |
Abel Kirui (born 6 April 1982) is along-distance runner fromKenya who competes inmarathons. He had back-to-back wins in theWorld Championshipmarathon in 2009 and 2011. Kirui won in 2009 with a time of 2:06:54, then defended his title with a winning margin of two minutes and 28 seconds – the largest ever margin at the World Championship event. He earned the silver medal in the2012 London Olympicmarathon.
He has also won the 2008Vienna City Marathon, the2016 Chicago Marathon and was runner-up at the2007 Berlin Marathon and2017 Chicago Marathon.
Abel Kirui started running while in Samitui Primary School. After high school, the jobless Kirui entered a recruitment race byAdministration Police (AP); the winner of such race would be recruited by AP. He won the race and subsequently joined AP, starting serious training only after then. He entered the2006 Berlin Marathon as apacemaker, but finished the race ninth.[1]
At the2007 Berlin Marathon, Kirui finished second with a time of 2:06:51, after the winnerHaile Gebrselassie, who set a new marathon world record. The time made Kirui the sixth fastest marathoner in 2007.[1] He also won thePaderborn Half-marathon in 2007.[citation needed] At the 2008Vienna City Marathon, he won with a new course record of 2:07:38.[citation needed]
He finished third in the 2009Rotterdam Marathon with a time of 2:05:04 after fellow KenyansDuncan Kibet andJames Kwambai,[2] making him the sixth fastest marathoner ever. On 22 August, Kirui took gold over his teammateEmmanuel Mutai who took silver at the2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin at a record time of 2:06:54.[3]
After the 2009 World Championships, Kirui had many unsuccessful attempts to show the dominance he had shown in his Berlin race: he finished in fifth place at the2010 London Marathon,[citation needed] then failed to finish at the2011 London Marathon.
Immediately after that failure, he started training with the Italian Coach Renato Canova, moving from Kapsabet to Iten, together with Jonathan Maiyo. Training with Canova's group, he was able to recruit the best shape, winning in Daegu his second title in World Championships.[citation needed] Kirui ran at thePrefontaine Classic track 25K/30K mixed race, hoping to set a new 25k track record. Although he just managed to dip under the previous world record time for the track 25K, he was well beaten by fellow Kenyan and teammateMoses Mosop, who broke both 25K and 30K world records.[4]
He was given the wildcard spot on the Kenyan marathon team as the defending champion at the2011 World Championships in Athletics. Kirui ran a time of 2:07:38 beating out fellow countrymanVincent Kipruto and EthiopianFeyisa Lilesa. This made Kirui the third man to defend the marathon world title, following in the steps ofAbel Antón andJaouad Gharib.[5] He ran over 10 miles at theGreat South Run in October and finished as runner-up toLeonard Komon.[6]
Kirui finished in second at the2012 Summer Olympics with a time of 2:08:27 barely losing to the winnerStephen Kiprotich by 26 seconds.[7]
At the2016 Chicago Marathon, he won with the time of 2:11:23, barely beatingDickson Chumba by 3 seconds.[8] Kirui finished in second place at the2017 Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:09:48 barely losing to the winnerGalen Rupp by 28 seconds.[9]
Kirui finished the2017 London Marathon, in fourth place with a time of 2:07:45.[citation needed] The following year, at the2018 London Marathon he once again finished fourth with a time of 2:07:07.[10]
Kirui lives at Nabkoi, east ofKapsabet. He is married to Stella Jemeli and has a son Tevin Kipchumba.[11]Kirui is a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.[12][13] Kirui along with fellow Seventh-day AdventistsPriscah Jeptoo andAmos Tirop Matui founded Better Living Marathon.[14]Marathon runnerMichael Kosgei Rotich is his uncle.[1] Kirui is coached by Renato Canova.[citation needed]
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