James Kwambai Explained

James Kipsang Kwambai (born February 28, 1983) is a runner from Kenya, who specialises in marathons. He is a former Kenyan record holder in the event, with his personal best of 2:04:27 hours in 2009. At the time this made him the second fastest runner ever, behind Haile Gebrselassie.[1]

Biography

Kwambai went to the Kondabilet Primary School in Marakwet East District, but dropped out at standard seven.[2]

He won the Marseille-Cassis Classique Internationale in 2002, breaking the course record by over a minute.[3] In 2006 Kwambai won the Brescia Marathon and Beijing Marathon, which were his first two marathons.[4] He also won the 2008 and the 2009 Saint Silvester Road Race.

He finished second at the 2008 Berlin Marathon, where Haile Gebrselassie set a new marathon world record. Kwambai's time was 2:05:36, that made him the seventh fastest ever marathon runner at the time.[5] At the 2009 Rotterdam Marathon Kwambai again finished second (behind Duncan Kibet) in a time of 2:04:27, the third fastest ever marathon at the time.[6] At the 2010 New York City Marathon he completed the race in 2:11:31, which brought him fifth place.[7] He returned to defend his title at the Saint Silvester race in São Paulo but ended up in third place behind Marílson dos Santos and Barnabas Kosgei.[8]

His first race of 2011 was the CPC Loop Den Haag, but he was off the winning pace and came sixth in a time of one hour and one second.[9] He was among the leaders at the 2011 London Marathon by the 30 km mark, but dropped out of the race.[10] In August he came second at the Rio de Janeiro Half Marathon, but was eighth at the Udine Half Marathon the following month, finishing well off his best in 1:02:06 hours. His season peaked in November when he took the title at the JoongAng Seoul Marathon in a time of 2:08:50 hours, despite rainy conditions.[11] He took on the city's other major race, the Seoul International Marathon, in March 2012 and ran his best race in three years, finishing in 2:06:03 hours to take second behind Wilson Loyanae.[12] In November he competed at the 2012 JoongAng Seoul Marathon, won it convincingly and broke the course record by 2:23 minutes, with a time of 2:05:50 hours.[13]

He was among the fastest entrants at the 2013 Tokyo Marathon, but came fifth a minute and a half behind winner Dennis Kimetto.[14] He was back in form in Seoul in November as he won in 2:06:25 hours for third straight victory at the race (the first person ever to do so).[15] He ran at the city's other major race, the Seoul International Marathon, in March 2014 but his time of 2:07:38 was only enough for sixth place in a quick race.[16]

Kwambai prefers road running over track and cross-country. His training partners include Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot, Martin Lel, Sammy Korir and Fred Kiprop in Eldoret and Italy. Kwambai has been coached by Gabriele Rosa and Claudio Berardelli.[17] [18]

Achievements

2003San Blas Half MarathonCoamo, Puerto Rico2nd1:03:29
Berlin Half MarathonBerlin, Germany3rd1:01:56
2004Eldoret Half MarathonEldoret, Kenya3rd1:01:43
San Blas Half MarathonCoamo, Puerto Rico2nd1:03:18
Udine Half MarathonUdine, Italy1st1:00:22
2005Bogota Half MarathonBogotá, Colombia1st1:03:10
Virginia Beach Rock 'n' Roll Half MarathonVirginia Beach, VA2nd1:01:05
Rome-Ostia Half MarathonRome, Italy1st1:00:45
2006Virginia Beach Rock 'n' Roll Half MarathonVirginia Beach, VA1st1:00:57
Bogota Half MarathonBogotá, Colombia2nd1:03:05
Brescia MarathonBrescia, Italy1st2:10:20
Beijing MarathonBeijing, China1st2:10:36
2007Boston MarathonBoston, United States2nd2:14:33
New York City Half MarathonNew York City4th1:01:03
New York City MarathonNew York City5th2:12:25
2008Virginia Beach Rock 'n' Roll Half MarathonVirginia Beach, VA1st1:01:05
Rome-Ostia Half MarathonRome, Italy2nd1:00:22
Berlin MarathonBerlin, Germany2nd2:05:36
2009Rotterdam Half MarathonRotterdam, Netherlands3rd59:09
Rotterdam MarathonRotterdam, Netherlands2nd2:04:27
2010New York City MarathonNew York City5th2:11:31
2011CPC Loop Den HaagThe Hague, Netherlands6th1:00:01
JoongAng Seoul MarathonSeoul, South Koreabgcolor=gold1st2:08:50
2012Seoul International MarathonSeoul, South Korea2nd2:06:03
JoongAng Seoul MarathonSeoul, South Koreabgcolor=gold1st2:05:50
2013Tokyo MarathonTokyo, Japan5th2:08:02
JoongAng Seoul MarathonSeoul, South Koreabgcolor=gold1st2:06:25
2014Seoul International MarathonSeoul, South Korea6th2:07:38
JoongAng Seoul MarathonSeoul, South Korea9th2:11:31
2015JoongAng Seoul MarathonSeoul, South Korea4th2:09:23
2016Daegu MarathonDaegu, South Korea1st2:10:46
2017Lanzhou MarathonLanzhou, China8th2:17:45

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Kwambai secures hat-013.
  2. News: Daily Nation. 26 October 2009. Nearly man Kwambai is back. 27 October 2009.
  3. http://www.marseille-cassis.com/fr/course/presentation Historique Il était une fois …
  4. News: IAAF. 28 February 2008. Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot aiming at fourth consecutive Boston marathon title. 24 April 2016.
  5. News: Wenig. Jorg. 28 September 2008. Haile breaks 2:04 barrier, Mikitenko under 2:20 in Berlin - UPDATED . IAAF. 24 April 2016.
  6. News: Kibet edges Kwambai as both clock 2:04:27 - Rotterdam Marathon. 5 April 2009. IAAF. 24 April 2016.
  7. News: Dunaway. James. 7 November 2010. 24 April 2016. IAAF. Gebremariam and Kiplagat cruise to New York victories.
  8. News: Biscayart. Eduardo. 1 January 2011. Dos Santos and Timbilil cruise to Sao Paulo wins. IAAF. 24 April 2016.
  9. News: van Hemert. Wim. 14 March 2011. 24 April 2016. Desisa and Chepcirchir take fast Half Marathon wins in The Hague. IAAF.
  10. News: Brown. Matthew. 17 April 2011. Mutai and Keitany dominate and dazzle in London. IAAF. 24 April 2016.
  11. News: Yelena Kurdyumova and Sergey Porada. 6 June 2011. Kwambai beats the rain and chill in Seoul. IAAF. 24 April 2016.
  12. News: Yelena Kurdyumova and Sergey Porada. 18 March 2012. 24 April 2016. Loyanae cruises 2:05:37 to shatter course record in Seoul. IAAF.
  13. News: Yelena Kurdyumova and Sergey Porada. 4 November 2012. 4 November 2012. Kwambai defends, clocks 2:05:50 course record in Seoul. IAAF.
  14. News: Nakamura. Ken. 24 February 2013. 2 March 2013. Kimetto clocks course record 2:06:50 at Tokyo Marathon. IAAF.
  15. News: Kwambai secures hat-trick in Seoul. IAAF. 3 November 2013. 3 November 2013.
  16. News: Minshull. Phil. 16 March 2014. Jarso smashes personal best with 2:06:17 to win in Seoul. IAAF. 22 March 2014.
  17. News: IAAF. 28 February 2005. Kwambai and Console run fast Half Marathons in Rome. 25 April 2016.
  18. News: IAAF. 28 February 2008. Women's course record goes at Rome-Ostia Half Marathon with 1:09 run. 24 April 2016.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "James Kwambai".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.