Kenya bags second medal after Muriuki wins bronze in women’s marathon

Margaret Muriuki bags Kenya 's second medal on day two after finishing second in the women's marathon in Birmingham at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Eight years after finishing eight in the 5,000m at Glasgow 2014, the last time she ran for Team Kenya Margaret Wangari Muriuki has won silver for Kenya in the women’s marathon at the Commonwealth games in Birmingham, England.

The 36-year-old has given Kenya a second medal at the club Games by clocking 2:28:00 behind Australia's Jessica Stenson who won the race in 2:27:31 with defending champion, the 2018 gold medallist Helalia Johannes taking home bronze.

The Australian women led the pack for most of the race. Eloise Wellings finished in fourth with a time of 2:30:51 with Sinead Diver just behind her in fifth with a time of 2:31:06 which is an exemplary team performance.

At the 40km mark, Stenson whipped her sunglasses off and powered towards the finish line with her only threat to a gold medal being the Kenyan who ended up remaining 28 seconds behind the Australian champion.

Muruiki initially started out as a 1500 metres runner and came seventh in that event at the 2007 All-Africa Games together with sharing the team gold medal at the 2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships.

Individually, she won medals at the African Cross Country Championships and the African Championships in Athletics 1500 m race in 2012 and today’s silver medal comes hours after Kenya’s Michael Githae bagged a bronze medal in the men's marathon by clocking 2:13.16 to get his first medal in the Commonwealth games history.

Uganda’s Victor Kiplangat won the gold medal ahead of Tanzania’s Alphonce Simbu.