Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich

Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich (born 15 March 1982) is a Kenyan professional athlete who specialises in long-distance running, competing in events ranging from 10 km to the marathon. He was the bronze medallist in the marathon at the 2012 Summer Olympics.^[1] He is the former world record holder in the marathon with a time of 2:03:23, which he set at the 2013 Berlin Marathon. He has run under 2 hours 4 minutes for the marathon on four occasions.

Wilson Kipsang

Wilson Kipsang at the 2012 London Marathon
Personal information
Full name	Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich
Born	(1982-03-15) 15 March 1982 (age 42) Keiyo District, Kenya
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Weight	62 kg (137 lb)
Sport
Country	Kenya
Sport	Long-distance running
Event	Marathon
Club	Kenya Police
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals	2012 Marathon,  Bronze
Personal bests	Marathon: 2:03:13 (Berlin 2016) Half marathon: 58:59 (Ras Al Khaimah 2009) 10 km: 27:44 (Appingedam 2009)
Medal record Men's Athletics Representing  Kenya Olympic Games 2012 London Marathon World Marathon Majors 2017 Tokyo Marathon 2014 New York Marathon 2014 London Marathon 2013 Berlin Marathon 2012 London Marathon 2017 New York Marathon 2016 Berlin Marathon 2015 London Marathon 2018 Berlin Marathon
Updated on 4 November 2019

Kipsang is a double winner of the Frankfurt Marathon (2010 and 2011) and has also won the London Marathon twice (2012 and 2014), New York Marathon (2014), and Tokyo Marathon (2017). His best time over the half marathon distance is 58:59.

Career

A native of Keiyo District in Kenya, Kipsang began competitive running for Kenya Police, and finished second in the 10 kilometre Tegla Loroupe Peace Race.^[2] He became a professional international athlete in 2007 and that year he took second place at the Tilburg Ten Miles, recording a time of 46:27,^[3] and he won a road race in Hem (his time of 27:51 was the fourth fastest in a 10 km race that year).^[4] He also took third place at the Kenyan Police Force championships, finishing behind Richard Mateelong.^[5]

2008

At the World's Best 10K, he finished third with a time of 28:09 behind Deriba Merga and Silas Kipruto.^[6]

He returned to the Tilburg Ten Miles race in 2008, and again finished as runner-up – just two seconds behind winner Abiyote Guta.^[7] His peak of the year was in a half marathon race: the Delhi Half Marathon. Kipsang pushed Merga, the 2006 World Road Running Champion, right up to the line but finished one second behind him. Despite the second-place finish, Kipsang improved his best by over one minute to 59:16.^[8] His time was also the third fastest half marathon by any runner that year, with Merga and Haile Gebrselassie ahead of him by just one second each.^[9]

2009

Kipsang started 2009 strongly, winning the Egmond Half Marathon in chilly conditions.^[10] Another good performance followed when he took second at the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon^[11] – his time of 58:59 made him only the fourth runner to have run below 59 minutes.^[12] At his second World's Best 10K he finished third, repeating his feat from the previous year.^[13] Despite being the favourite for the 2009 Berlin Half Marathon,^[14] he ended up in third place in a fast race which was the first occasion in which all the top-four runners finished under an hour.^[15]

He competed in the World 10K Bangalore in May 2009, and finished fourth.^[16] He competed in his first IAAF World Half Marathon Championships at the end of that year, taking fourth place with a time of 1:00:08.

2010

In April 2010 he made his marathon debut in the Paris Marathon, and finished third in a time of 2:07:13 hours, half a minute behind winner Tadesse Tola.^[17] He won the Frankfurt Marathon in October in a new course record of 2:04:57, this time beating Tadesse by over a minute.^[18] The time made him the eighth fastest marathoner ever.^[19]

2011

He won his third marathon at the 2011 Lake Biwa Marathon, defeating Deriba Merga to win in a course record of 2:06:13.^[20] He returned to defend his title at the Frankfurt Marathon and set about attacking Patrick Makau's five-week-old world record.

Kipsang came within four seconds of the time, crossing the line after 2:03:42, and ended the race with the second fastest marathon time ever.^[21]

2012

Kipsang began 2012 with a third-place finish at the RAK Half Marathon.^[22] He won the London Marathon in April in 2:04:44, just 4 seconds short of the course record set the previous year by Emmanuel Mutai. Starting as favourite he went on to win the bronze medal in the men's marathon at the London 2012 Olympic games.^[1][23] One month after the Olympics, he travelled to Newcastle to win the Great North Run in 59:06. That December he won the Honolulu Marathon.^[24]

2013

He opened 2013 by continuing his winning line, taking the title at the New York Half Marathon.^[25] He was among the favourites for the 2013 London Marathon, but he managed only fifth place, timing 2:07:47 for the distance.^[26] He stepped down to the 10K for the Great Manchester Run and although he beat Haile Gebrselassie, he was runner-up by one second to Moses Kipsiro.^[27] He performed less well at the Bogotá Half Marathon, taking fifth place with 1:05:26 hours.^[28] On 29 September he won the Berlin Marathon, beating second place finisher Eliud Kipchoge by over 30 seconds ^[29] and setting a new world record of 2:03:23, 15 seconds faster than the previous record by Patrick Makau.^[30]

2014–2017

On 13 April 2014, Kipsang won the 2014 London Marathon in a course record time of 2 hours, 4 minutes and 29 seconds.^[31]

On 2 November 2014, Kipsang won the New York City Marathon in 2:10:59 in his first appearance.^[32]

At the 2016 BMW Berlin marathon, Kipsang ran the joint fourth-fastest marathon time ever, 2:03:13, which was good enough for second place behind winner Kenenisa Bekele in 2:03:03.

At 2017 Tokyo Marathon Kipsang ran CR with 2:03:58. After being forced to step out at BMW Berlin marathon at 30 km mark, Kipsang achieved 2nd place at the New York City Marathon in 2:10:56.

2018

After his success at the 2017 Tokyo Marathon, Wilson Kipsang returned to Japan's capital, with ambitions to reclaim the world record (WR) that he has lost to compatriot Dennis Kimetto. In the press conference, he quoted 2:02:50, as his target time. However, the world record was not to be his, as Kipsang was forced to drop out after just 15 km, with stomach problems. The former world record holder said, "I really wanted to go fast, but after suffering from stomach problems the last two days before the race, I didn't have the power to run a decent race today."^[33]

Wilson returned to Berlin in September to attempt to break the marathon world record. In the pre-race press conference, Wilson revealed that he would run a negative split, with 61:30 as his target time for the half-way point. On the race day, Wilson was unable to maintain the requested pace and ended up finishing 3rd, behind Amos Kipruto and Eliud Kipchoge, who did set a new marathon record, with the time of 2:01:39.

Provisional suspension and four year ban

On 10 January 2020 Kipsang was provisionally suspended for Whereabouts Failures and Tampering or Attempted Tampering of samples^[34] by the Athletics Integrity Unit.

World Athletics said between April 2018 and May 2019 the 38-year-old Kenyan, twice a London Marathon winner, had missed four "whereabouts appointments".

In June 2020 Kipsang was banned for four years for doping offences. He had additionally tried to maintain that the missed testing appointment was due to a car accident, but it was established that the accident took place three months after the missed appointment.^[35]

Achievements

Wilson Kipsang in his World Record-setting run at the 2013 Berlin Marathon, Eliud Kipchoge is behind him.

International competition record

Year	Event	Distance	Location	Rank	Time
2009	World Half Marathon Championships	Half Marathon	Birmingham	4th	1:00:08
2012	Olympic Games	Marathon	London	3rd	2:09:37
2015	World Championships in Athletics	Marathon	Beijing	DNF	–

Road running

Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich, at London Half Marathon, 10 March 2019

Year	Road Race	Distance	Location	Rank	Time
2007	Tilburg Ten Miles	10 miles	Tilburg	2nd	46:27
	Hem 10k	10 km	Hem	1st	27:51
	Tarsus Half Marathon	Half Marathon	Tarsus	1st	1:02:05 CR
2008	World's Best 10K	10 km	San Juan	3rd	28:09
	Stadsloop Appingedam	10 km	Appingedam	1st	28:39
	Goudse Nationale Singelloop	10 km	Gouda	1st	28:34
	Tarsus Half Marathon	Half Marathon	Tarsus	1st	1:02:50
	Delhi Half Marathon	Half Marathon	New Delhi	2nd	59:16
2009	Egmond Half Marathon	Half Marathon	Egmond aan Zee	1st	1:05:36
	Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon	Half Marathon	Ras al-Khaimah	2nd	58:59
	Stadsloop Appingedam	10 km	Appingedam	1st	27:45
2010	Abu Dhabi Half Marathon	Half Marathon	Abu Dhabi	1st	1:00:04
	Paris Marathon	Marathon	Paris	3rd	2:07:13
	Frankfurt Marathon	Marathon	Frankfurt	1st	2:04:57 CR
2011	Kärnten Läuft Half Marathon	Half Marathon	Klagenfurt	1st	1:02:25
	Zwolle Half Marathon	Half Marathon	Zwolle	1st	1:00:49
	Lake Biwa Marathon	Marathon	Otsu	1st	2:06:13 CR
	Frankfurt Marathon	Marathon	Frankfurt	1st	2:03:42 CR
2012	London Marathon	Marathon	London	1st	2:04:44
	Great North Run	Half Marathon	Newcastle	1st	59:06
	Honolulu Marathon	Marathon	Hawaii	1st	2:12:31
2013	NYC Half Marathon	Half Marathon	New York City	1st	1:01:02
	Berlin Marathon	Marathon	Berlin	1st	2:03:23 WR
2014	London Marathon	Marathon	London	1st	2:04:29 CR
	NYC Marathon	Marathon	New York City	1st	2:10:59
	Granollers Half Marathon	Half Marathon	Granollers	1st	1:01:18
2015	London Marathon	Marathon	London	2nd	2:04:47
	Granollers Half Marathon	Half Marathon	Granollers	1st	1:02:39
2016	London Marathon	Marathon	London	5th	2:07:52
	Great Manchester Run	10 km	Manchester	2nd	28:15
	Berlin Marathon	Marathon	Berlin	2nd	2:03:13
2017	Tokyo Marathon	Marathon	Tokyo	1st	2:03:58 CR
	NYC Marathon	Marathon	New York City	2nd	2:10:56
2018	Tokushima Marathon	Marathon	Tokushima	1st	2:19:35
	Berlin Marathon	Marathon	Berlin	3rd	2:06:48
2019	Vitality Big Half	Half Marathon	London	6th	1:04:07
	London Marathon	Marathon	London	12th	2:09:18

World Marathon Majors results timeline

World Marathon Majors	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Tokyo Marathon	–	–	–	–	–	1st	DNF	–
Boston Marathon	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
London Marathon	1st	5th	1st	2nd	5th	–	–	12th
Berlin Marathon	–	1st	–	–	2nd	DNF	3rd
Chicago Marathon	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
New York City Marathon	–	–	1st	4th	–	2nd	–

Personal bests

Source – Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich at World Athletics .

Surface	Distance	Time (h:m:s)	Speed (km/h)	Location	Date
Track	5,000 m	14:20.8	20.9	Kisumu, Kenya	30 April 2005
	10,000 m	28:31.5	21.1	Nairobi, Kenya	6 June 2008
Road	10 km	27:45	21.6	Appingedam, Netherlands	27 June 2009
	15 km	41:35+	21.7	Ras al-Khaimah, UAE	20 February 2009
	Half marathon	58:59	21.4	Ras al-Khaimah, UAE	20 February 2009
	Marathon	2:03:13	20.5	Berlin, Germany	25 September 2016

References

1. Ramsak, Bob. "London 2012 – Event Report – Men's Marathon". IAAF. Archived from the original on 22 August 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
2. Macharia, David (18 November 2006). "Matebo and Domongole win titles at Tegla Loroupe Peace Race". IAAF. Archived from the original on 13 March 2010. Retrieved 1 November 2009.
3. "Uitslagen 2007" (in Dutch). Tilburg Ten Miles. 2007. Archived from the original on 20 September 2007. Retrieved 1 November 2009.
4. "10 Kilometres 2007". IAAF. 10 January 2008. Archived from the original on 2 January 2010. Retrieved 1 November 2009.
5. "10,000 Metres 2007". IAAF. 1 December 2008. Archived from the original on 2 January 2010. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
6. Kuehls, Dave (25 February 2008). "Kiplagat retains 10km title in San Juan". IAAF. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
7. van Hemert, Wim (7 September 2009). "Ethiopian double in Tilburg". IAAF. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
8. "Three go sub-60, as Ethiopia sweep titles in Delhi Half Marathon". IAAF. 9 November 2008. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
9. "Half Marathon 2008". IAAF. 8 September 2009. Archived from the original on 22 July 2009. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
10. van Hemert, Wim (12 January 2009). "Strong winds destroys hopes of fast times in Egmond Half Marathon". IAAF. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
11. Minshull, Phil (20 February 2009). "Makau produces second fastest time ever, Tune clocks national record at RAK Half Marathon – Updated". IAAF. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
12. Wenig, Jörg (3 April 2009). "Kiprotich tops the men's bill, home hope Mockenhaupt tops the women's – Berlin Half Marathon preview". IAAF. Archived from the original on 10 June 2009. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
13. Clavelo Robinson, Javier (1 March 2009). "Kitwara and Cheruiyot, new champions and men's record at World's Best 10K". IAAF. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
14. "Mockenhaupt claims women's title at Berlin Half Marathon". European Athletics. 7 April 2009. Archived from the original on 9 April 2009. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
15. Wenig, Jörg (5 April 2009). "In debut, Kipyego takes Berlin Half Marathon in 59:34". IAAF. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
16. Krishnan, Ram. Murali (31 March 2009). "Merga and Mergia take thrilling 10km victories in Bangalore". IAAF. Archived from the original on 23 July 2009. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
17. Vazel, Pierre-Jean (11 April 2010). "2:22:04 World lead for Baysa, Tola improves to 2:06:41 – Paris Marathon report". IAAF. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
18. Elsäßer, Nico (31 October 2010). "Rekordfestival krönt Frankfurt-Marathon". Deutscher Leichtathletik-Verband. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
19. Edwards, Andy (31 October 2010). "Fast Kenyan double in Frankfurt; 2:04:57 and 2:23:25". IAAF. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
20. Nakamura, Ken (6 March 2011). "2:06:13 course record for Kipsang at Lake Biwa". IAAF. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
21. Butcher, Pat (30 October 2012). "Kipsang tantalises with 2:03:42 World record assault in Frankfurt". IAAF. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
22. Hutchings, Tim (17 February 2012). "Keitany wins but records blown off course in windy RAK Half Marathon". IAAF. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
23. "Men's Marathon – Olympic Athletics – London 2012". 12 August 2012. Archived from the original on 5 December 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
24. Monti, David (9 December 2012). "Kipsang and Galimova win windy Honolulu Marathon". IAAF. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
25. Battaglia, Joe (17 March 2013). "Wilson Kipsang gives high octane performance at chilly NYC Half". IAAF. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
26. Men’s race report: Kebede comes from behind to regain his crown Archived 23 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine. London Marathon (21 April 2013). Retrieved 1 June 2013.
27. Wenig, Jörg (26 May 2013). "World lead and course record for Tirunesh Dibaba over 10km in Manchester". IAAF. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
28. Biscayart, Eduardo (28 July 2013). "Kipsang and Jeptoo win in Bogota". IAAF. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
29. "BMW Berlin Marathon 2013 - Track and Field Event - FloTrack".
30. "Wilson Kipsang sets new world record". BBC Sport. 29 September 2013. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
31. "London Marathon 2014: Wilson Kipsang storms to men's title". BBC Sport. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
32. Zinser, Lynn (2 November 2014). "Bump Propels Kenyan to Men's Title". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
33. "Stomach problems force Kipsang to drop out of Tokyo marathon". Xinhua Net. Archived from the original on 2 March 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
34. "Provisional Suspensions in Force | Athletics Integrity Unit". www.athleticsintegrity.org. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
35. London Marathon winner Wilson Kipsang gets four-year ban for missing drugs tests and ‘fraudulent conduct’.

External links

• Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich at World Athletics

Records
Preceded by Patrick Makau	Men's Marathon World Record Holder 29 September 2013 – 28 September 2014	Succeeded by Dennis Kimetto