Luke Kibet
KENYA
BIRTHDATE:
April 12, 1982
PERSONAL BEST:
2:08:52 (Eindhoven, 2005)
WORLD MARATHON MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS:
25Aug07 IAAF World Championships, Osaka 1st 2:15:59
17Apr05 Flora London Marathon 17th 2:16:40
ADDITIONAL CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
09Apr07 Vienna City Marathon 1st 2:10:07
17Dec06 Taipei International Marathon 1st 2:11:05
08Oct06 Eindhoven Marathon 3rd 2:10:06
09Apr06 Rotterdam Marathon 14th 2:15:25
18Dec05 Taipei International Marathon 1st 2:11:54
09Oct05 Eindhoven Marathon 3rd 2:08:52
31Oct04 Messe Frankfurt Marathon 2nd 2:11:28
16May04 Enschede Marathon 2nd 2:11:13
CAREER NOTES:
The difficult weather expected for the 2007 IAAF World Championships Marathon made the race hard to handicap, but even so few would have expected to see Kenyan Luke Kibet in a runaway victory.
Although he had won the Vienna City Marathon in April (2:10:07) his personal best was only a 2:08:52 from 2005, a time many others in the World Championships field had bettered. Yet when he started his surge just past the 31 km point no one was able to stay with him and Kibet went on to score a victory by 77 seconds. It was the first marathon gold medal for a Kenyan man since Douglas Wakiihuri in 1987.
“I heard that people were saying [the Kenyan marathoners] were not strong,” said Kibet afterwards, “but when I came here, I promised myself that I would do well, to prove them wrong.”
PERSONAL NOTES:
Kibet's hometown is Eldoret in Kenya. He started out as a steeplechaser and moved to the Netherlands to train with Frans Denisen's management group. He is a civil servant and member of the Prisons Service. Kibet is married with one child. Note: Luke Kibet should not be confused with another top Kenyan marathoner, Lukas Kibet (born June 19, 1973) a multiple winner of the Country Music Marathon in Nashville, Tennessee.
In late December 2007 Kibet was caught up in the violence which swept Kenya. He was struck in the head by a stone tossed by someone in a mob outside of Eldoret and required hospitalization for several stitches to close the wound. His winter training was put on hold and participation in spring competition questionable depending on his recovery.
