Abel Kirui
KENYA
BIRTHDATE:
June 4, 1982
PERSONAL BEST:
2:06:51 (Berlin, 2007)
WORLD MARATHON MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS:
30Sep07 real,- Berlin Marathon 2nd 2:06:51
24Sep06 real,- Berlin Marathon 9th 2:17:47
ADDITIONAL CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
29Apr07 Vienna City Marathon 3rd 2:10:41
03Dec06 Singapore Marathon 3rd 2:15:22
CAREER NOTES:
Abel Kirui might not have expected to stay anywhere close to Haile Gebrselassie who went after and set a new world record at the 2007 real,- Berlin Marathon, but Kirui had every reason to be proud of his effort there. Taking every advantage of ideal running conditions and the fast course, he smashed his previous personal best by almost four full minutes and finished in second place with a 2:06:51. Kirui was the sixth fastest man in the world for 2007.
The previous year at Berlin he finished in the top 10 with a time of 2:17:47. Ten weeks later, running under challenging heat and humidity in Singapore, he managed to take more than two minutes off that time.
Kirui then made an even bigger improvement at Vienna last April when he placed third in 2:10:41.
As a tune-up to that race he had a major victory at the International Paderborner Osterlauf Half-Marathon in 1:01:32. Kirui then improved his personal best to 1:00:11 in a sixth place finish at the Fortis Rotterdam Half-Marathon in September.
