Medal record | ||
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Patrick Makau setting the current World Record at the Berlin Marathon 2011 |
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Men's athletics | ||
Competitor for Kenya | ||
IAAF World Half Marathon Championships | ||
Silver | 2007 Udine | Individual |
Gold | 2007 Udine | Team |
Silver | 2008 Rio de Janeiro | Individual |
Gold | 2008 Rio de Janeiro | Team |
Patrick Makau Musyoki (born 2 March 1985 in Manyanzwani, Eastern Province) is a runner from Kenya. He holds the world record in the marathon with a time of 2:03:38, set at the 2011 Berlin Marathon.[1] He is also notable for his half marathon performances, having won a number of prominent competitions in Europe. His time of 58:52 at the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon in 2009 is the sixth-fastest half marathon time ever run.[2] He is a member of Birchfield Harriers athletics club.
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Musyoki attended Unyuani School until 1999, after which he joined Kyeni Academy, Misiani. He started running in 2001.[3] He competed at the 2006 IAAF World Road Running Championships and finished in 26th place.
He finished second at the 2007 Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon by running 59:13 minutes, being beaten only by Samuel Wanjiru who set the world record (58:53) at the same race.[3] He won silver at the 2007 IAAF World Road Running Championships and 2008 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. He was also part of the Kenyan team that won the team race both times.[3]
He won at the City-Pier-City Loop in 2008. Musyoki won the 2009 Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon setting the second best ever Half marathon time 58:52. The world record at the time, 58:33, was held by Samuel Wanjiru.[4] He made his marathon debut at the 2009 Rotterdam Marathon, finishing fourth and setting a fast time (2:06:14 hours),[5] short of the fastest marathon debut, set by Evans Rutto at the 2003 Chicago Marathon (2:05:50 hours).[6]
Makau returned to the Hague for the City-Pier-City Loop in 2010 and won for a second time, clocking another sub-one hour time of 59:52.[7] After this he significantly improved his marathon best to 2:04:48 to win the Rotterdam Marathon, becoming the fourth fastest runner over the history of the distance.[8] He opted to stay away from the circuit and focus himself entirely on preparations for the Berlin Marathon.[9] A rematch with Rotterdam runner-up Geoffrey Mutai saw the two take the same positions again. Rain dampened the prospect of a record but Makau out-sprinted Mutai at the finish to clock 2:05:08 and win his first World Marathon Major.[10] In recognition of his performances that year, he was selected as the AIMS World Athlete of the Year in a poll of race organisers.[11]
Makau ran in the 2011 London Marathon and, in spite of a fall at the half way point, he continued and was narrowly beaten into third at the line by Martin Lel, finishing with a time of 2:05:45.[12]
At the Berlin Marathon on 25 September 2011, Makau was set to duel against Haile Gebrselassie, the world record holder from Ethiopia. The Kenyan dropped his more experienced rival after the halfway point and went on to finish in a world record time of 2:03:38 (an average speed of 4:42.9 per mile), beating the existing record by 21 seconds.[13] Prior to the race, he stated that he wanted to bring the marathon world record back to Kenya, following on from a former record holder Paul Tergat.[14] Speaking after the race, Makau said "In the morning my body was not good but after I started the race, it started reacting very well. I started thinking about the record"[14] and "At 32 km I thought I could win the race and even break the world record. It was hard [over] the last 10 kilometres".[15]
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Surface | Event | Time (h:m:s) | Venue | Date |
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Track | 3000 m | 7:54.50 | Pliezhausen, Germany | 13 May 2007 |
Road | ||||
10 km | 27:27 | Berlin, Germany | 1 April 2007 | |
15 km | 41:30 | Ras Al Khaimah, UAE | 20 February 2009 | |
20 km | 56:13 | Udine, Italy | 14 October 2007 | |
Half marathon | 58:52 | Ras Al Khaimah, UAE | 20 February 2009 | |
25 km | 1:14:08 | Berlin, Germany | 7 May 2006 | |
30 km | 1:28:52 | Rotterdam, Netherlands | 5 April 2009 | |
Marathon | 2:03:38 | Berlin, Germany | 25 September 2011 |
Sporting positions | ||
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Preceded by Haile Gebrselassie Deriba Merga |
Men's Half Marathon Best Year Performance 2009–2010 |
Succeeded by |
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