• A fascinating performance in the frosty streets of England last April authenticates the fact that she still possesses the aptitude to execute her dreams.
Image: FILE
As the Paris 2024 Olympic Games unwind on August 11, all eyes will be on defending champion Peres Jepchirchir, the diminutive runner who has mesmerised the entire world with her dexterity on the course.
After stamping authority on her way to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where she obliterated a rich field of competitors to tuck away the title after a blistering 42,195km loop, Jepchirchir reckons she has the allure to replicate the feat in the French capital.
She heads to Paris invigorated by her dazzling act of genius at the 2024 London Marathon where she smashed the women's only world record at a searing pace of two hours, 16 minutes, and 16 seconds.
There is no doubt that she will be flying the national flag at the premier quadrennial global championships after Athletics Kenya included her on the stellar roster of eight male and female marathoners who will hold forte for the nation at the Olympic Games.
“I know it won’t be a walk in the park and I'm expecting a vicious challenge. But I’m confident I'll accomplish my pursuit at the Summer Olympics in Paris. I've prepared myself sufficiently for the huge task ahead,” Jepchirchir remarked.
Image: HANDOUT
Jepchirchir said she is ready to burn the midnight oil as she hammers away indefatigably for a second straight title in France come August.
“Part of my strategy is to finish strongly. I've done that before and always made it impossible for my opponents to overtake me in the final 800m. That's exactly what I intend to do this time around,” Jepchirchir stated.
A fascinating performance in the frosty streets of London last April authenticates the fact that she still possesses the aptitude to execute her dreams.
“I was thrilled by the victory. I was not expecting to shatter the world record. I remotely believed someone would smash it but it hardly crossed my mind that person would be me.”
She will headline a starry roster of Kenyan marathoners tasked with hoisting the nation's flag at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
According to a list unveiled by the National Olympic Committee of Kenya on Wednesday, Jepchirchir's teammates include reigning Boston and New York Marathon champion Hellen Obiri, Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Brigid Kosgei, and 2022 New York Marathon champion Sharon Lokedi who has been incorporated as a reserve runner.
Her meteoric rise to stardom has not been an entirely rosy affair. She vividly recalls her formative years when she could retire to bed on an empty stomach owing to her family's constrained resources.
Born on September 27, 1993, things turned bizarre for her when she lost the care of her mother early in life.
“I was only two years old when I lost my mother so things became messy in my life She was the second among my father's three wives," she sadly narrates.
Image: HANDOUT
"We are 24 siblings in a polygamous family. The responsibility of taking care of a big family weighed down heavily on my father and he encountered difficulties putting food on the table. He relied fully on small-scale farming to keep the family afloat,” she said.
Things grew from bad to worse and, eventually, Jepchirchir was forced to live with her uncle David Barno. She would trek for five kilometres to Sambut Primary School daily.
To some extent, the tough life shaped her into a budding athlete. Gradually, she developed an interest in athletics.
“I had a huge competitive spirit. Teachers would encourage me to run alongside my older schoolmates," Jepchirchir remarked.
She could run so fast that her teachers encountered difficulties in getting hold of her when they sought to punish her for the mistakes she made.
Matters got to a head when she found herself dropping out of Kosirai Girls High School in Nandi, owing to a lack of school fees.
“My uncle fell sick and I had to stay out of school for a year. It became difficult for my father to pay school fees,” she said.
Jepchirchir would later take up a career in athletics to run away from her perennial poverty. It was during that tough period in her life that she went to seek refuge in a friend's house.
“It was then that I met my husband Davis Ng’eno who approached a friend of his to accommodate me. I lived in Kapsabet for one year as I trained extremely hard,” she said.
She thrust herself fully into athletics, inspired by the accomplishments of four-time New York City Marathon champion Mary Keitany.
Her talent was spotted by Gianni Demadonna's team who invited her to high-level European road races. She proved her mettle in her maiden appearance on the international stage, winning three straight races in France in late 2014.
She attained the peaks of road running in 10K and half marathon in 2015, recording 30:55 minutes at the Prague Grand Prix — the second fastest globally for the season.
Image: HANDOUT
A week later she set a course record of 67:17 minutes to bag the Ústí nad Labem Half Marathon time which placed her seventh on the year's top lists.
Jepchirchir set a new best of 66:39 minutes at the 2016 Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon, a performance that moved her to 13th on the all-time list.
This performance earned her a place on the Kenyan team for the 2016 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships.
The five-woman team led out at the start of the race, with Ethiopia's Netsanet Gudeta and Genet Yalew also in contention.
Despite being the youngest and least experienced member of Team Kenya at the 2016 World Athletics Half Marathon Championships, Jepchirchir led a Kenyan podium sweep.
The following year, she shattered the half marathon record after clocking 1:05:06 in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE despite being a few weeks pregnant. "I gave birth to my daughter, Natalia, in October 2017.
Thirteen months after giving birth I bagged the Lisbon Half Marathon title much to everyone's astonishment," Jepchirvhir stated.
"In 2020, I smashed the women-only world record with a 1:05:34, winning the Prague 21.1K before winning the world title after shedding off a further 18 seconds," she added.
Jepchirchir blazed to the women's marathon title at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in Sapporo on August 7. She stunned compatriot and world record holder Brigid Kosgei in the closing stages of the race, going on to win the race in 2 hours, 27 minutes, and 20 seconds.
She would later win the New York Marathon in 2021 in 2:22:39 and clock 2:21:02 at the Boston Marathon 2022 on her way to glory.
She breezed to the 2024 London Marathon title, finishing in two hours, 16 minutes, and 16 seconds, and breaking the women’s only world record.