Peres Jepchirchir

Peres Jepchirchir, born on September 27, 1993, in Turbo, Kenya, initially faced financial challenges that led her to pursue running as a career. Early in her career, she drew inspiration from Kenyan athlete Mary Keitany. After leaving high school at 18 due to an inability to afford tuition, Jepchirchir began competing in road races in 2013. She secured two 10K wins in South Africa and a third-place finish at the Kisumu Marathon. In 2014, her talent caught the attention of Gianni Demadonna’s team, leading to invitations for prominent European road races. That year, she won three consecutive races in France: the Le Lion Half Marathon, the Marseille-Cassis Classique Internationale, and the Corrida de Houilles.

Jepchirchir continued to build upon her early success, reaching new milestones in 2015. She recorded a 10K time of 30:55 minutes at the Prague Grand Prix and set a course record of 67:17 minutes at the Ústí nad Labem Half Marathon. In 2016, she further solidified her reputation at the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon with a time of 66:39 minutes, earning her a spot on the Kenyan team for the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. She became the individual world champion at the 2016 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, contributing to Kenya’s team victory.

In 2017, Jepchirchir broke two world records at the RAK Half Marathon, setting a half marathon record of 65:06 minutes and a 20K world record of 61:40 minutes. She went on to achieve significant victories, including gold medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics marathon (2:27:20), the 2021 New York City Marathon (2:22:39), and the 2022 Boston Marathon (2:21:02). She also won the 2024 London Marathon (2:16:16), setting a women’s only world record. Notably, she achieved her 2017 half marathon world record while pregnant and returned to form to win her second World Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia in 2020.