Peres Jepchirchir targets New York City marathon world record
By Amos.Abuga, December 22, 2021
Olympic marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir says breaking the women’s world record is still her target.
While giving a chronological assessment of her progress, Jepchirchir says her target was to run 2:17, which she already achieved.
“My next stop is 2:15, after that the world record attempt will be on sight,” said the mother of one.
Jepchirchir says part of her ambitions for the new season is to lower her personal best of 2:17:16 during the busy 2022 season.
The runner had a successful 2021 campaign that saw her win a gold medal in the women’s marathon at the Tokyo Olympics in August before clinching the New York City Marathon title last month.
“For sure I have had a great season and I thank God for that. At the beginning of the year I didn’t expect to win both the Olympics and the New York City Marathon,” said Jepchirchir.
The soft-spoken athlete revealed that her rigorous training for the Summer Games was key to her success at the New York Marathon which was held just three months after the Tokyo Games where she became the first athlete to win both titles in the same year.
Lots of pressure
“For sure I did not have a lot of pressure going to New York. I think I had prepared adequately during my training for the Tokyo Games,” said Jepchirchir
The 28-year-old is hoping to carry her fine form to the coming season where she has already laid out her plans.
“At the moment I don’t know which races I will compete in next year but we understand that the Boston Marathon will be among the first races of the season and thus we are waiting for the organisers to release entries,” she said.
The half marathon (women only) world record holder said she is now fully focused on the full marathon.
Jepchirchir was recently awarded the Order of the Grand Warrior of Kenya (OGW) during the Jamhuri Day celebrations in recognition of her excellence in athletics.
“The award is a big motivation for me to even work harder to bring more gold medals and break more records,” she said.