Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir started in the marathon event by mistake

Reigning Olympic marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir never intended to make her marathon debut when she began her professional career in 2013. She started with 10km road races in South Africa.

Then the 20-year-old athlete was due to start the 10km in Kisumu during the marathon but was shocked upon arrival. She has to run a marathon instead of a 10km, as the shorter distance is only for local athletes. Eventually she won with a time of 2:47:33 hours.

“I had gone for the 10km and when I arrived it turned out that the 10km was only for people from that area. I remember it very well because I ran my first marathon without very long runs”, said the athlete.

After her marathon triumph in 2013, Peres Jepchirchir did not immediately start running 42 km. She took a more serious approach to the classic distance in 2019 when she won the Saitama International Marathon. She also dominated the Valencia Marathon in 2020, then won the Olympic title in Tokyo in 2021 and later that year the New York Marathon.

In 2022, she won the Boston Marathon and became the first woman in history to hold an Olympic title and win the New York and Boston Marathons.