News29 Oct 2009


Persistence and parenthood lead Kosgei to the top

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Salina Kosgei out-sprints Dire Tune in Boston (© Getty Images)

New York City, USAIt is a testament to the extraordinary depth of the Kenyan marathoning juggernaut that the name Salina Kosgei should have drawn shrugs from marathon watchers before this April.

But when she lined up at the Boston Marathon's Hopkinton starting line six months ago, Kosgei had three previous marathon victories to her credit, not to mention assorted half marathons and, for good measure, a Commonwealth Games championship at 10,000m (in 2002). Kosgei was in the 17th year of an international career that went back to the 1992 World Junior Championships in Seoul, where she was an 800m finalist.

"After Boston," she admitted in a press conference on Wednesday (28th) in New York, "I became well-known." Sticking to the defending champion beyond the 26-mile mark and sprinting to the narrowest margin of victory ever seen in Boston's women's race (one second) will do that for a marathoner.

Kosgei is in New York to attempt a follow-up to her last-second Boston victory in the spotlight of the ING New York City Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race.

Building on long experience and dreams of travel

While New York's course record is held by Margaret Okayo, a precocious Kenyan talent who came to the marathon early, Kosgei's path to prominence has more resembled that of Catherine Ndereba or Lornah Kiplagat, with a breakthrough race following long experience at several distances.

Kosgei's time in the middle distances did not end with her junior race in Seoul, as she was just two places outside the medals in the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Vancouver in that event. Perhaps a faster time there might have led Kosgei to face Svetlana Masterkova in Atlanta, but instead Kosgei got married to hurdler Barnabas Kinyor. Their first son, Billy, was born in 1996; on her return to training, Kosgei began attacking the 5000m and 10,000m distances. After a daughter, Ruth, arrived in 2002, and Kosgei finished out of the medals in the 10,000m at the 2003 Paris World Championships, it was time for Kosgei to make the step up to the marathon. She debuted in Paris the following spring and won, followed by wins in Prague in 2005, Singapore in 2006, and then Boston in 2009.

Kosgei's persistence at sticking with the sport over decades of effort might be explained by the wide range of destinations where she has chosen to race. After her Boston victory, Kosgei recalled her childhood for reporter Sabrina Yohannes: "Planes used to pass over our place. I used to make paper planes, and I wanted to go far."

Considering the 'Radcliffe problem'

With several leading contenders in New York's women's race missing (including former champion Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia, who is pregnant, and the 2008 Boston champion Kosgei vanquished in April, Ethiopian Dire Tune), Kosgei finds herself in thin company. Japan's Yuri Kano will join Kosgei as the pair warily eye Briton Paula Radcliffe, who despite being ill for the World Half Marathon Championships in Birmingham has pronounced herself fit for New York and ready to attack the course record of 2:22:31.

Kosgei believes (and proved in Boston) that she has the finishing speed to race with anyone in the closing stages of a marathon.

However, this is not a solution to the problem posed by Radcliffe, whose usual approach is to set a blistering pace from the beginning and dare anyone to hang on.

"I'd like to be close enough to see her run some," joked Kano.

Kosgei's understated analysis - "She is very fast" - was almost fatalistic. "I will try to stay with her. If the pace is too hot for me, I will stay back a bit and try to make a run at the end."

Much was made at the press conference of the fact that Kosgei and Radcliffe have been in the same race only once before, the Olympic marathon in Beijing. Kosgei came out on top there, finishing 10th, while Radcliffe suffered back in 23rd. "I don't count it," responded Kosgei.

More of Kosgei's strategy might come from the 2008 example in New York set by Marilson Gomes dos Santos, who let Abderrahim Goumri build a lead in the second half of the race before closing the gap and snatching the victory when Goumri faded.

It comes down to confidence

The problem of beating Radcliffe highlights another aspect of Kosgei's persistence. Not knowing how she can score a victory over the World record holder, in Kosgei's eyes, doesn't mean it can't be done.

"I'm going to try my best," Kosgei promises. "Maybe I can. I don't know; it will depend on how we are going to run."

"Paula is confident in her running; she is faster," she continues. But winning Boston "gave me a lot of confidence and made me well-known among my competitors, as well."

"It's my time."

Parker Morse for the IAAF
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