Peres Jepchirchir, the Olympic Marathon Champion from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, will be the VIP guest at the 2022 Sofi Malt Great Ethiopian Run International 10km taking place in Addis Ababa on Sunday 20th November 2022.
She will come to Addis with her husband and daughter, arriving in time for the pre-race press conference on the morning of Friday 18th November. It will be her first visit to Ethiopia.
In 2021 Jepchirchir, now 29 years old, achieved a feat which no other athlete had done previously by winning the New York Marathon in the same year in which she also won her Olympic title. She also started her 2022 campaign in spectacular style by winning this year’s Boston Marathon.
However, she had to withdraw from the 2022 World Championships because of a hip injury and also from last Sunday’s New York Marathon.
Jepchirchir is also a twice winner of the World Half Marathon Championships in 2016 and 2020. She has raced against many of Ethiopia’s top athletes including Yalemzerf Yehualaw, Degitu Azmeraw, Netsanet Gudeta and Zeinaba Yimer. Her fastest time for the marathon is 2 hours 17 minutes and 16 seconds set in Valencia two years ago.
Jepchirchir will be among a group of Kenyans attending this year’s race which includes elite athletes who will be taking part in the 10km and several Kenyan journalists.
Also making the trip to Addis will be Kenya’s former 10,000m world champion Moses Tanui who competed against Haile Gebrselassie in a memorable 10,000m final at the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart. Tanui is now the Race Director of the Eldoret City Marathon.
