Leonard Komon

Leonard Patrick Komon (born 10 January 1988 in Mount Elgon District) is a Kenyan long-distance runner and the current world record holder in the 10 kilometres and 15 km road races. His half marathon time of 59.14 in Berlin is the fastest debut half marathon of all time.

Komon was the silver medallist at the 2008 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and shared in three team golds from 2008 to 2010.

Komon is from Cheptais in Mount Elgon District. Komon won his first medals in cross country running competitions, taking the junior silver medal at the 2006 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and progressing to win the senior silver at the 2008 edition. He was the 2008 winner of the Cross Internacional de Soria. Komon was close to winning the bronze medal at the 2009 World Cross Country Championships in Amman, but he missed out by one second behind Zersenay Tadese and Moses Kipsiro.

He completed a strong 2009–2010 cross country season in Spain, finishing third in the Cross de la Constitucion (Alcobendas) and first in both the Cross de Itálica (Sevilla) and the Cross de Elgoibar (Basque Country). This marked him out a contender for a medal at the 2010 World Cross Country Championships in Poland. Having been among the leading four runners in the final lap at the championships, he looked set to claim third place but a late sprint in the final 100 m saw Moses Ndiema Kipsiro overhaul the Kenyan. They both recorded a time of 33:10 and Komon ended up in fourth, although his finish did help the Kenyan men (led by Joseph Ebuya) to the team gold medal – an exact repeat of his performance from the previous year. He set a personal best over 5000 metres on the track at the 2009 Golden Gala in Rome, running 12:58.24 for third place behind Kenenisa Bekele and Mark Kiptoo.

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