Quick Facts
Biography
Joyciline Jepkosgei (born 8 December 1993) is a Kenyan female long-distance runner who competes over distances from 10,000 metres to the half marathon. She is the half marathon world record holder with her personal best of 64:52 minutes. During that race she broke four world records en route, recording 30:05 at 10K, 45:37 at 15K and 61:25 at 20K.
She was a bronze medallist over 10,000 m at the African Championships in Athletics in 2016.
Career
Jepkosgei emerged as a professional level runner at the 2015 Nairobi Half Marathon, where she finished fifth in 1:14:06 minutes. She knocked her best down to 1:09:09 minutes at the following year's First Lady's Half Marathon in the Kenyan capital, placing second to Valentine Kipketer. She improved two seconds further in winning the Karlovy Vary Half Marathon, which placed her in the top 35 runners that year.
A member of the Kenya Defence Forces, she was twice runner-up at their track championships in 2016 in the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres. A third-place finish in the 10,000 m at the Kenyan Athletics Championships led to her first international selection for the 2016 African Championships in Athletics. There she took the bronze medal in a personal best of 31:28.28 minutes. Jepkosgei ended her breakthrough year with a runner-=up finish at the Prague Grand Prix and a win at the Marseille-Cassis Classique Internationale.
She competed in her first top level half marathon at the start of 2017 and took nearly three minutes off her personal best, crossing the line in 66:08 minutes to take third at the RAK Half Marathon. This made her the seventh fastest runner ever at that point. The winner, Peres Jepchirchir, broke the world record and Jepkosgei ran the fastest ever time for her placing, as did runner-up Mary Keitany. Both Jepchirchir and Keitany had won world titles for the half marathon distance, thus establishing Jepkosgei among the world's best. A month and a half later she returned to the distance and proved herself the fastest ever, winning the Prague Half Marathon by setting four world records from 10K up to the half marathon distance.
In September 2017, with the aid of a male pacer, she further improved her own 10K world record to 29:43, just ahead of Fancy Chemutai (30:06), and Violah Jepchumba (30:25), at the Prague Grand Prix, thus becoming the first woman ever to run the distance under 30 minutes.
Personal bests
- 5000 metres (outdoor track) – 15:40.0 (2016)
- 5 kilometres (road) - 14:53 (2017)
- 10,000 metres (track) – 31:28.28 (2016)
- 10 kilometres (road) – 29:43 (2017) WR
- 15 kilometres (road) – 45:37 (2017) WR
- 20 kilometres (road) – 1:01:25 (2017) WR
- Half marathon – 1:04:52 (2017) WR
International competitions
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | African Championships | Durban, South Africa | 3rd | 10,000 m | 31:28.28 |
Circuit wins
- Marseille-Cassis Classique Internationale (half marathon): 2016
- Karlovy Vary Half Marathon: 2016
- Prague Half Marathon: 2017