Abraham Kiptum’s Half Marathon WR Preparation
On a cool October morning in Valencia the 29-year-old Kenyan produced a phenomenal performance, surging through a significant negative split to take five seconds off the previous record (58:23) set by Zersenay Tadese in Lisbon eight years ago. Kiptum’s time of 58:18 also lopped off an incredible fifty-one seconds from his personal best set this April in Copenhagen (59:09).
However, what makes Kiptum’s performance even more incredible, is how little known he is. Despite a very respectable PB in the half, and an impressive third place in the 2017 Amsterdam Marathon (2:05:26), Kiptum has been flying completely under the radar of the global running community. His performance in Valencia came very much out of the blue.
During post-race interviews Kiptum himself seemed to have been caught by surprise. “I can’t believe it, I’m over the moon,” Kiptum told the IAAF. “Obviously I knew I was in good shape because I set a PB last month in Copenhagen, but I was eager to run in Valencia because it’s one of the flattest circuits I’ve ever run, and I was confident of improving on my best.”
In fact, in a Q&A article released by LetsRun Kiptum admitted to approaching the race merely with a new PB in his sights, and no intention of setting a new benchmark for the world. This Q&A was released by Kiptum’s manager, the Spaniard Juan Pineda. Kiptum also goes on to provide some details of his personal life and upcoming goals.
Hailing from Chepketei Kosirai village, in Nandi County, Abraham is the third of four children. He grew up in a poor family in this small village, running during school: he claims his talent comes from his late grandfather, who was also an athlete. Kiptum currently trains in Kapsabet under the guidance of his coach Joshua Kiprugut Kemei. In this Q&A he also revealed some of his training sessions in the leadup to Valencia.
“Let us know some training done by you before breaking the world record.”
“I knew I was in good shape after my last track workout: 400m×15, recovering 1 min, all done in 60-61 seconds. I was also doing fartlek, 30x 1′-1′, that’s 30 times 1 min fast followed by 1 min not so fast, at an average of 3:15 per km, at an altitude over 2,000 meters (6,562 feet). I was really feeling comfortable.”
The world record breaking performance was part of Kiptum’s preparation for the inaugural Abu Dhabi Marathon which will take place on the 7th of December. He says that his upcoming athletic goals include good performances here, as well as at a major marathon (citing London or Boston as examples) and the cross country world championships in 2019.
Amazingly, his participation in Abu Dhabi, and Valencia, comes subsequent to his rejection by the race organisers of the Chicago Marathon: he was not admitted to the race this fall as “his credentials were not good enough.” After seemingly coming from nowhere to surprise the world with his stunning achievement in Spain, and with big things locked in his sights for the coming years, it looks like the Chicago race organisers weren’t the only ones who seriously underestimated Abraham’s form. The future looks bright for this young Kenyan.
