Daniel Komen
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
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| Born |
17 May 1976 Mwen |
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| Height | 170 cm (5 ft 7 in) | ||||||||||||
| Weight | 55 kg (121 lb) | ||||||||||||
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Medal record
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| Updated on 16 February 2014. | |||||||||||||
Daniel Kipngetich Komen (born 17 May 1976 in Elgelol Marakwet District, Kenya) is a Kenyan middle- and long-distance runner. Remembered for his rivalry with Haile Gebrselassie, Komen's most notable achievements came in a two-year period between 1996 and 1998, during which he broke a string of world records.
He currently holds the world record for the 3000 metres both outdoors (7:20.67 set in 1996) and indoors (7:24.90 set in 1998). In addition, with his 7.58.61 world record in the 2-mile race set in 1997, he remains the only man in history to run back-to-back sub-four-minute miles, splitting circa 3:59.4 on both the first and second half of the race.
Komen was also the second man, after Saïd Aouita, to break both the 13-minute mark for the 5,000 m, the 7½-minute mark for 3,000 m, and the 3½-minute mark for the 1,500 m.
Komen is from the Keiyo sub-tribe of Kalenjin people and grew up in a rural area of Kenya's Rift Valley Province. One of fourteen children, Komen began running at the age of seven as a means of getting to and from school. Komen had an exceptional junior career: at age 17, he placed second at the World Junior Cross Country Championships, and in 1994, he became the World Junior Champion in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters.
Komen first appeared in the senior ranks in 1994 when he won a place on Kenya's 10,000 m team for the 1994 Commonwealth Games, later that same year helping pace Moses Kiptanui to a 5,000 m record.
Two years later, Komen began to dominate the 5,000 m. On 1 September 1996 in Rieti, Italy, Komen ran a spectacular world record time of 7:20.67 in the 3000 metres, breaking Noureddine Morceli's former record by 4.44 seconds.
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