Moses Kiptanui

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Moses Kiptanui (born October 1, 1970 in Marakwet District, Kenya) is a middle and long distance athlete mostly famous for 3,000 m steeplechase in which he was the number one ranked athlete from 1991 to 1995 and three time IAAF World Champion. Kiptanui was also the first man ever to run 3000 m steeplechase in under eight minutes.

Kiptanui emerged in 1991 as a relatively unknown athlete. He won several Grand prix races that season. He celebrated an especially spectacular victory in Zurich where he fell on the floor on the last lap but still won easily.

His victoy at the 1991 World Championships in Athletics in Tokyo therefore came as no surprise. To the great disappointment of many observers he was not included in the Kenyan team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Kiptanui had failed to qualify at the Kenyan trials in Nairobi.

However, shortly after the Olympics he set a new world record over 3000 m in Cologne with a time of 7:28.96 min. Only three days later he also broke the 3000 m steeplechase world record in 8:02.08 in Zurich. The following year, he defended the World Championship title easily in Stuttgart. In 1995 he broke the 5000 m world record in Rome in a time of 12:55.30 min. After collecting his third World Championship gold medal in Gothenburg he also set the new 3000 m steeplechase record in Zurich in a time of 7:59.18 min.

A year later, he missed out on an Olympic gold medal again when he came second in the final in Atlanta.