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Berlin Half Marathon champion Sheila Chepkirui (pictured) will make her marathon debut during the 48th edition of the BMW Berlin Marathon, Germany in September. Chepkirui broke the course record on Sunday during the 41st edition of the Generali Berlin Half Marathon.

Despite very cold conditions with almost freezing temperatures at the start, she clocked a world-class time of 65:02. It is the 18th fastest half marathon time ever run by a woman. Her compatriots Joyce Chepkemoi and Irene Kimais took second and third with 65:50 and 66:34 respectively. “I am now planning to run my marathon debut later in the year, so I will return to Berlin in September,” said Chepkirui.

A total of 33,336 athletes from 121 nations registered for the race. Chepkirui set a new championship record with victory in the women’s 5,000m final at the Africa Athletics Championships at Kings Park, Durban South Africa.

The Kenya Defence Forces officer clocked 15 minutes and 05.45 seconds to erase the previous championships record time of 15:32.72 set by Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana during the 2014 event in Marrakech. In 2017, Chepkirui competed at the World Championships in London where she clinched position 7 in the 5000 metres race with a PB of 14:54:05.

 The 32-year-old hails from Kipchimchim in Ainamoi sub-county, Kericho county and trains at Kericho Athletics camp under the tutelage of coach Gabriel Kiptanui.

In the year 2020 Chepkirui broke the Women’s 10km world marathon record in a time of 29:42 in the Valencia Marathon consolidating her position as the second fastest woman of all time, according to the World Athletics. This is the first time a 10km race on the road has happened in under 30 minutes, which takes Chepkirui performance 11 seconds off the PB she set in Prague in 2019.