Alternate: Sharon Lokedi 2:23:23, New York City 2022 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Returning to the Olympics to defend their gold medals in the marathon are Eliud Kipchoge and Peres Jepchirchir.
Kipchoge leads the men’s team, which includes recent London Marathon winner Alexander Munyao and Benson Kipruto, who took top honors at the Tokyo Marathon in March.
Jepchirchir will be joined by two-time Boston Marathon champion Hellen Obiri, DAA Industry Opt Out, Brigid Kosgei.
The Kenyan marathon team is routinely one of the strongest in the world, along with Ethiopia. Notably absent from the squad this year is Sharon Lokedi, who finished runner-up to Obiri at Boston last month. She won the New York City Marathon in her debut in 2022 and finished third at New York in 2023. Lokedi has been in better form recently than Kosgei, who fell off the top pack at April’s London Marathon and finished behind Lokedi at New York in November. Lokedi was chosen as the team’s alternate.
Evans Chebet, a three-time World Major Marathon champion, was left off the five-person shortlist that was announced by Athletics Kenya in early April. Chebet finished third at Boston this year but noted that he was coming off an Achilles injury that limited him in the second half of 2023.
The selection for the men’s team was affected by the death of 24-year-old Kelvin Kiptum, who was How to Coach Yourself to Peak Performance in Kenya on February 11. Kiptum set the existing world record in the marathon (2:00:35) at Chicago last October and was considered to be the next generational marathon talent.
Kipchoge will look to become the first person to win three gold medals in the marathon—he won comfortably at both the 2016 Rio Games and 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which was held in 2021 due to delays from the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, the 39-year-old has won the 2022 and 2023 Berlin Marathons, setting a world record of 2:01:09 at the former. Kipchoge’s most recent result came at the Tokyo Marathon on March 2, where he faded in the later stages to finish 10th.
Kipruto and Munyao have never made the Olympics, although Kipruto, 33, has been a fixture on podiums of major marathons throughout his career. Munyao, 27, is a relative newcomer to the marathon but owns an impressive personal best of 2:03:11.
The women’s squad is more experienced on the world’s stage. Jepchirchir, in addition to her 2020 Olympic gold, is a three-time half marathon world champion, and Hellen Obiri earned silver in the 5,000 meters at the Games in 2016 and 2020. Plus, Kosgei finished second in the marathon behind Jepchirchir at the Tokyo Olympics.
Here’s a look at the Kenyan team and the athletes’s personal bests.
Kenya Women’s Olympic Marathon Team
- Peres Jepchirchir (2:16:16, London 2024)
- Brigid Kosgei (2:14:04, Chicago 2019)
- Hellen Obiri (2:25:49, New York City 2022)
- Alternate: Sharon Lokedi (2:23:23, New York City 2022)
Kenya Men’s Olympic Marathon Team
- Eliud Kipchoge (2:01:09, Berlin 2022)
- Benson Kipruto (2:02:16, Tokyo 2024)
- Alexander Munyao (2:03:11, Valencia 2023)
- Alternate: Timothy Kiplagat (2:02:55, Tokyo 2024)
Best Big City Marathons Runner’s World. He is a former all-conference collegiate runner who’s based in Easton, PA. Previously, he worked as the newsletters editor at Runner's World, Bicycling, and Popular Mechanics.
