Peres Jepchirchir
Who was Peres Jepchirchir?
Kenyan marathon runner who won Olympic gold at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and set the women's-only world record at the 2017 London Marathon.
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Peres Jepchirchir (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Peres Jepchirchir was born on September 27, 1993, in Turbo, Kenya. She is a professional long-distance runner recognized as a leading figure in women's road racing during the 2010s and 2020s. Primarily focused on half marathons and marathons, she has an impressive record of wins at top events, including an Olympic gold medal and several World Half Marathon Championship titles.
Jepchirchir gained significant international attention with her performances in half marathons. She set a personal best of 1:05:06 on February 10, 2017, in the UAE, which was a world record at the time. She also set the women's only world record at the 2017 London Marathon, marking the fastest time by a female athlete without male pacemakers. Her dominance in the half marathon was confirmed with wins at the World Half Marathon Championships in 2016 and 2020. In the 2020 championships in Gdynia, Poland, she set the women's only half marathon world record of 1:05:16, improving her previous best.
Her move to marathons brought Jepchirchir to the top of the sport globally. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic delay, she won gold in the women's marathon, confirming her as the best female marathon runner in the world. She kept winning on the road racing scene with victories at the 2021 New York City Marathon and the 2022 Boston Marathon, showing consistency in various conditions.
In 2024, Jepchirchir gave one of her career's best performances at the London Marathon, finishing in 2 hours, 16 minutes, and 16 seconds. This broke the women's only marathon world record and underscored her position at the top of the sport. Her third-place finish at the 2023 London Marathon showed she remained competitive at the highest level. Through nearly a decade of elite competition, Jepchirchir has excelled at multiple road distances, collecting major titles and records with a consistency that few other women have achieved in distance running.
Before Fame
Jepchirchir grew up in Turbo, a town in Uasin Gishu County, western Kenya, an area known for producing many elite distance runners. The high-altitude environment of the Kenyan highlands, along with a strong local culture of running and well-established national athletics programs, has long helped talented young athletes become world-class competitors. Jepchirchir grew up surrounded by some of the most celebrated distance runners in history.
She advanced through the ranks of Kenyan athletics during the early 2010s, steadily building her reputation on the national and international circuit. She burst onto the global scene with her World Half Marathon Championship victory in 2016. That title established her as a major force in women's road running and led to a series of records and victories over the next several years.
Key Achievements
- Gold medal in the women's marathon at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held 2021)
- World Half Marathon Championship titles in 2016 and 2020
- Women's only marathon world record of 2:16:16 set at the 2024 London Marathon
- Victory at the 2021 New York City Marathon and 2022 Boston Marathon
- Former women's only half marathon world record of 1:05:16 set at the 2020 World Half Marathon Championships
Did You Know?
- 01.Her half marathon personal best of 1:05:06, set in the UAE in February 2017, was a world record at the time of its setting.
- 02.She won the World Half Marathon Championships twice, in 2016 and 2020, with the 2020 victory also setting the women's only world record for the half marathon distance at 1:05:16.
- 03.Her 2024 London Marathon winning time of 2:16:16 broke the women's only world record, a category that measures women's performances without male pacemakers.
- 04.Her Olympic gold in the marathon came at the Tokyo Games, which were held in 2021 after being postponed by a full year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- 05.She has won two of the six World Marathon Majors on separate continents: the New York City Marathon in 2021 and the Boston Marathon in 2022.