Keitany at the 2011 New York City Marathon
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Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Born | 18 January 1982 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 42 kg (93 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country | Kenya | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Athletics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event(s) | Marathon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Mary Jepkosgei Keitany (born 18 January 1982 in Kisok, Baringo District) is a runner from Kenya who specialises in long distance running up to the marathon distance. She won silver at the 2007 IAAF World Road Running Championships and became the World Half Marathon champion two years later. She won the 2012 London Marathon with a personal best of 2:18:37 hours – making her the second fastest woman ever in the event.
Her personal best of 1:05:50 in the half marathon is the former women's world record. She also held the world record in the women's 10 miles (50:05 minutes), 20 km (62:36), and the 25 km (1:19:53).
She started running while at primary school. In 2002, she joined the Hidden Talent Academy. In January 2006 she placed 21st in her first senior race at the Shoe4Africa women's race. After some success in local races, she competed abroad for the first time, winning some road races in Europe.
She won a silver medal at the 2007 IAAF World Road Running Championships, finishing second only to Lornah Kiplagat who broke the world record. She married fellow Kenyan athlete Charles Koech in late 2007 and the couple had a son, Jared Kipchumba, in mid-2008. After her year out, she returned to competition at the World 10K Bangalore in May 2009. She finished one second behind the winner Aselefech Mergia, but set a new personal best of 32:09 in the 10 km. In September that year, she finished the 2009 Lille Half Marathon with 1:07:00, which was a winning mark and the seventh fastest run of all-time over the distance.