![]() The decisive moment came after the 35km mark as Jepkosgei launched her attack and quickly opened up clear daylight on her rivals. “I felt confident that 3:15 or 3:16 would be a comfortable pace for me in London and that I would run well.” ![]() “The Berlin Half Marathon was a taster for the London Marathon and I was feeling confident after running 3:05 or 3:06 per kilometre in Berlin,” she said. Jepkosgei, who gained some experience of the London course when she performed pacemaking duties in 2019, said she knew she was in the physical shape to win on her debut after breaking the course record at the Berlin Half Marathon in August. It is a great personal achievement for me and it will last a lifetime.” “This is an achievement that will last forever. “It was great to break the record to show what is possible but now I’m just happy to win here,” she said. Jepkosgei was not aware that her record had gone until after her London victory, though she was unsurprisingly sanguine about her loss. In a curious twist of timing, Jepkosgei held the 10km mark until just minutes before she went to the London Marathon start line as Bahrain’s Kalkidan Gezahegne lowered it to an unratified 29:38 in in winning the Giants Geneva 10km. She set marks for 10km (30:04), 15km (45:37) and 20km (1:01:25) before becoming the first woman to run a sub-65 minute half marathon by winning in 1:04:52.įive months later, she lowered her 10km world record even further when she won the 2017 Birell Prague Grand Prix in 29:43 to become the first woman to break the 30-minute barrier on the roads. The following April, she underlined her extraordinary talent by breaking no fewer than four world records in a single race on her way to victory in the Prague Half Marathon. Under Koech’s guidance, Jepkosgei achieved her first breakthrough in the elite ranks when she won the Karlovy Vary Half Marathon in the Czech Republic in May 2016. He has trained me not only in my running but mentally to remain focused in everything I am doing.” “When we are in the field, he is a coach not a husband, and in the house he is a husband,” she said. ![]() Jepkosgei says the dual relationship works perfectly for her and describes it as a “privilege” to be coached by him. Her coach, Nicholas Koech, is a former 1:46 800m runner and also her husband. My parents said: ‘This girl will become a runner in the future’.” When they sent me to the market I would run and then come back fast. I was the winner every time I competed, so my parents were very happy with me and motivated me every morning. “I realised the talent was there when we had inter-class races at school. “I would run to school in the morning, run home for lunch, run back to school and then run home again – each and every day of the week. “Going to school and coming home was all about running,” she said. Remarkably, she only began training seriously eight years ago following the birth of her son, Brendan, although her talent for running was evident right from her school days growing up in Cheptil, near Eldoret. The confidence Jepkosgei exudes, both in her aggressive running style and her forthright attitude, suggests there are plenty more chapters to be written in her fast-track marathon career. “I ran 2:22, then 2:18 and now 2:17, so I’m seeing the improvement and that motivates me to go even faster.” “This marathon in London has motivated me to do even more each and every day because I have run faster times in each of my three marathons,” she said. It already places her seventh on the women's marathon all-time list and was achieved in only her third race over 26.2 miles, following her debut victory in New York in 2019 and her second-place finish in Valencia last year. ![]() “When I started running the marathon, I opened the book in New York, and every time I do one I am learning so much.”Īfter a sleepless night replying to messages of congratulation from friends and colleagues back home in Kenya, Jepkosgei returned to the theme of self-improvement, speaking confidently about how she believes she can go quicker than her winning London time of 2:17:43. In the moments after her brilliant victory in the Virgin Money London Marathon, a World Athletics Elite Platinum Label race, it was significant that Joyciline Jepkosgei was already looking to the future and signalling there was more to come.
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