Jepchirchir hungry for more glory after splendid season

Olympic marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir has set sights on lowering her personal best of two hours, 17 minutes and 16 seconds in the coming season.

Jepchirchir had a successful 2021 campaign that saw her win a gold medal in the women’s marathon at the Tokyo Olympics in August before clinching the New York City Marathon title last month.

“For sure I have had a great season and I thank God for that. At the beginning of the year I didn’t expect to win both the Olympics and the New York City Marathon,” Jepchirchir reflected.

The soft-spoken athlete revealed that her rigorous training for the Summer Games was key to her success at the New York Marathon which was held just three months after the Tokyo Games where she became the first athlete to win both titles in the same year.

“For sure I did not have a lot of pressure going to New York. I think I had prepared adequately during my training for the Tokyo Games,” Jepchirchir told Citizen Digital.

The 28-year-old is hoping to carry her fine form to the coming season where she has already laid out her plans.

“It was my target to run 2:17 which I have already achieved, I am now going for 2:15 then maybe I will attempt the world record,” the mother of one said.

“At the moment I don’t know which races I will compete in next year but we understand that the Boston Marathon will be among the first races of the season and thus we are waiting for the organisers to release entries,” she said.

The half marathon (women only) world record holder said she is now fully focused on the full marathon.

Jepchirchir was recently awarded the Order of the Grand Warrior of Kenya (OGW) during the Jamhuri Day celebrations in recognition of her excellence in athletics.

“The award is a big motivation for me to even work harder to bring more gold medals and break more records,” she said.