Luke Kibet

Luke Kibet (born 12 April 1983) is a Kenyan long- distance runner who specializes in the marathon.

He grew up with his grandmother in Moiben, near Eldoret, on, where known athletes such as Paul Tergat, Moses Tanui and Joshua Chelanga trained on his doorstep. The television broadcast of the 1996 Olympic Games awakened in him the desire to become a steeplechaser, it turned out, however, that his talent lay in long-distance running. Kibet moved to Eldoret and trained at Camp Moses Tanuis in Kaptagat.

In 2004 he was engaged as a pacemaker at the Enschede Marathon. He ran through the race and finished in second place. Shortly thereafter, he became the world record run of Paul Malakwen Kosgei second in the 25 km from Berlin in 1:12:52 h, a time that has since been surpassed only by Haile Gebrselassie at a recognized not as a world record run. In the same year he was second also in the Frankfurt Marathon.

In 2005, he then won at the 25 kilometers from Berlin. In the same year, was third at the Eindhoven Marathon in his personal best time of 2:08:52 and won the Taipei International Marathon. In both races, he finished in the same place the following year.

In 2007 he won first at the Vienna City Marathon and celebrated his biggest success by winning the Marathon World Championships in Osaka. In case of extreme weather ( 28 to 33 ° C heat and 70 to 80% humidity ), he sat down on at kilometer 31 and latched on until the finish a lead of over a minute on Mubarak Hassan Shami and Röthlin. His winning time of 2:15:59 h is the slowest ever run at the World Championships. He is the second Kenyan marathon champion Douglas Wakiihuri in 1987. During the same year he won the Great South Run over 10 miles in 47:31 min.

With the unrest in Kenya 2007/2008 he was injured in late 2007 by a mob, who shortly thereafter Kibets mentor Lucas Sang killed by throwing a stone at the head, as he was a victim of violence come to the rescue. The wound had to be stitched in the hospital and expose Kibet three weeks with the Trainingswhip. In February 2008, he narrowly escaped an ambush into which he had got together with four other athletes near Naivasha during a car journey from Eldoret to Nairobi.

The strains were felt in the London Marathon, where Kibet only Eleventh in 2:12:25 h. He was nominated as a substitute for the marathon in the Olympic Games in Beijing and jumped in one of the injured Robert Cheruiyot Kipkoech. There he worked as a pace -setter for the later champion Samuel Kamau Wanjiru, but had to quit the race after 25 kilometers. End of the season he performed at the Singapore Marathon with a 2:13:03 course record.

The following year, he won first half marathon of Lagos, but then got out because of complaints to the Achilles tendon at the London Marathon. After he was treated by Dr. Hans -Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt in Germany, he started once again in Singapore. Although he his hamstring still caused problems, he succeeded at 31 ° C heat and 77 % humidity to defend his title and to improve the track record to 2:11:25.

Luke Kibet is employed by the Kenyan Prison Service. He is married and father of two children.