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This year, Rosemary Wanjiru from Kenya, the world’s fastest woman marathoner, expressed disappointment with her results in Budapest.

Despite being considered a pre-event favorite for a gold medal at the World Championships, she finished out of the medal bracket. In her debut marathon at the Championships, she had a world-leading time of 2:16.28, but the final result fell short of her expectations.

Ethiopia’s Amane Beriso Shankule won the race, and Wanjiru finished sixth with a time of 2:26.42. The 28-year-old is dissatisfied with the performance but remains determined for future events.
She admitted, “Yes, I am disappointed because of the results.

I did not expect what I got because my aim was to get something nice; a medal of any colour. But now, finishing sixth in the world may not be as bad but generally it is frustrating. I am ready to go again.
This Hungary result will get me shaken. I believe in myself and I know that I am the best. What is there now is to spearhead my training with a target of representing my country Kenya again at the Olympics. I have no doubts there, let them wait and see my show,” she told People Sport.

Wanjiru’s marathon debut was at the 2022 Berlin Marathon, where she finished second with a time of 2:18:00 behind Ethiopia’s Tigist Asefa. In March of this year, she achieved a remarkable performance at the Tokyo Marathon, clocking a world-leading time of 2:16:28 to claim the title.

This success earned her a spot on the national team for Budapest, and she was a medal prospect for Kenya.

However, Wanjiru believes that adverse weather conditions in Budapest hindered her chances of a podium finish in only her third full career marathon.

She mentioned, “We gave our all in the race, it is not the end we will keep the fight. The weather really did damage to our ambitions. It was not the way we expected, especially for me personally. I was in good shape but the weather affected me.

It was too hot there making it difficult to run well.

We have taken the hard lessons that we need to be always ready for anything such as high or low temperatures or even rainy conditions.”

She has plans for a series of 10km road races before defending her title at the Tokyo Marathon next year. Following that, she intends to shift her focus to the Olympics if she receives the opportunity from Athletics Kenya.