Vivian Cheruiyot

Vivian Cheruiyot

Cheruiyot during the 2011 World Championships

Vivian Jepkemoi Cheruiyot (born September 11, 1983 in Keiyo District) is a long-distance running athlete from Kenya who specialises in track and cross country running. She represented Kenya at the 2000 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Summer Olympics. Cheruiyot won a silver medal in the 5000 metres at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics and became the world champion in the event at the 2009 edition.

After taking a silver at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships, she won a number of outdoor titles that year, becoming African champion, Commonwealth Games champion and IAAF Continental Cup champion, as well as winning the 2010 IAAF Diamond League title.

She holds the Kenyan record and Commonwealth record for the 5000 m with her best time of 14:20.89, which was set at the DN Galan in 2011.

Career

Cheruiyot is trained by Ricky Simms.[1] She was born near Keiyo in the Rift Valley Province, coming from the same village as another female runner Alice Timbilili.[2]

Her breakthrough year came in 1999: at the age of fifteen she took the junior silver medal at the 1999 IAAF World Cross Country Championships behind Werknesh Kidane. At the 1999 World Youth Championships in Athletics she won the bronze medal in the 3000 metres. She earned a senior call-up for the 1999 All-Africa Games, where she managed a bronze medal in the 5000 metres. She became the junior champion at the 2000 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. She gained selection for the 2000 Olympic Games and reached the 5000 m final after setting personal bests in the qualifying rounds. She was much slower in the final and was the last runner to finish.[3]

Vivian Cheruiyot won the silver medal at the 5000 m final of the 2007 World Championships at Osaka in 14:58.50, behind Meseret Defar (14:57.91).[4]

In early 2009 she broke the Kenyan 3000 metres indoor record (8:30.53) in Birmingham and won the World's Best 10K race in Puerto Rico.[5] In May she won the Great Manchester Run 10K race. Cheruiyot won the women's 5000 m at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin with a time of 14 minutes 58.33 seconds, while countrywoman Sylvia Kibet took the silver. She closed the track season with a 3000 m silver and a 5000 m bronze medal at the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final. She won the 2009 New Year's Eve San Silvestre Vallecana race.[6]

She retained her World's Best 10K title in 2010.[7] An appearance at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships resulted in a silver medal in the 3000 m behind Meseret Defar. She headed the Kenyan 5000 m challenge at the 2010 African Championships in Athletics in Nairobi and beat Defar on this occasion to take the African title.[8] After this, her main focus of the year was the 2010 IAAF Diamond League. She took victories in the 5000 m at the Meeting Areva and Memorial van Damme and was elected the inaugural Diamond League Trophy winner for the event on overall points.[9] She defeated Sentayehu Ejigu at the 2010 IAAF Continental Cup to take the 5000 m gold medal for Africa.[10] Another gold medal in the event came at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, where she headed a Kenyan podium sweep with Sylvia Kibet and Ines Chenonge.[11] She returned to Kenya to train and took an 8 km win at the Tuskys Cross Country meeting.[12] She ended the year on a high note with a win at the BOclassic 5K race on New Year's Eve.[13]

Cheruiyot began preparing for the World Cross Country Championships in January 2011 and came third at the Great Edinburgh Cross Country before overhauling Linet Masai to win the Cross de Itálica in Seville.[14][15] A second place finish at the Kenyan Cross Country Championships guaranteed her a place in the Kenyan squad and, in contrast to her successes on the track, she was looking to win her first cross country medal on the world stage.[16] Her rival Masai led the initial charge at the 2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, but Cheruiyot broke away on the final lap to secure the gold medal and lead Kenya to the women's team title.[17]

She started 2012 with a win at the World's Best 10K and improved her best on the roads to 30:47 minutes.[18] She opened the 2012 Diamond League circuit with narrow wins ahead of Meseret Defar, first in the 3000 m in Doha then over 5000 m in Rome.[19] She guaranteed her place at the Olympics by winning the 10,000 m trial in Nairobi in June.[20]

Personal bests

Vivian Cheruiyot in 2006
Event Time (m:s) Venue Date
1500 m 4:06.65 Doha, Qatar 11 May 2007
3000 m 8:28.66 Stuttgart, Germany 23 September 2007
5000 m 14:20.89 Stockholm, Sweden 29 July 2011
10000 m 30:30.44 London, UK 3 August 2012
10 km (road) 30:47 San Juan, Puerto Rico 26 February 2012

Achievements

Cheruiyot winning on the 2010 Diamond League circuit
Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
1998 World XC Championships Marrakech, Morocco 5th Junior race
1999 World XC Championships Belfast, Northern Ireland 2nd Junior race
All-Africa Games Johannesburg, South Africa 3rd 5000 m
World Youth Championships Bydgoszcz, Poland 3rd 3000 m
2000 World XC Championships Vilamoura, Portugal 1st Junior race
2001 World XC Championships Oostende, Belgium 4th Junior race
African Junior Championships Réduit, Mauritius 1st 5000 m
2002 World XC Championships Dublin, Ireland 3rd Junior race
World Junior Championships Kingston, Jamaica 3rd 5000 m
2004 World XC Championships Brussels, Belgium 8th Short race
2006 World XC Championships Fukuoka, Japan 8th Short race
World Athletics Final Stuttgart, Germany 3rd 3000 m
2007 World XC Championships Mombasa, Kenya 8th Long race
World Championships Osaka, Japan 2nd 5000 m 14:58.50
World Athletics Final Stuttgart, Germany 2nd 3000 m 8:28.66 PB
1st 5000 m 14:56.94
2008 Olympic Games Beijing, China 5th 5000 m 15:46.32
World Athletics Final Stuttgart, Germany 2nd 3000 m 8:44.64
2nd 5000 m 14:54.60
2009 World Championships Berlin, Germany 1st 5000 m 14:57.97
World Athletics Final Thessaloniki, Greece 2nd 3000 m 8:30.61
3rd 5000 m 15:26.21
2010 World Indoor Championships Doha, Qatar 2nd 3000 m
African Championships Nairobi, Kenya 1st 5000 m 16:18.73
Continental Cup Split, Croatia 1st 5000 m
Commonwealth Games New Delhi, India 1st 5000 m
2011 World Cross Country Championships Punta Umbría, Spain 1st Senior race 24:58
World Championships Daegu, South Korea 1st 5000 m 14:55.36
1st 10,000 m 30:48.98
2012 Olympic Games London, United Kingdom 2nd 5000 m 15:04.73
3rd 10,000 m 30:30.44

References

  1. ↑ The Standard, January 28, 2007:Back with a ‘killer kick’
  2. ↑ Daily Nation, August 11, 1999: No changes expected in squad
  3. ↑ Athletics at the 2000 Sydney Summer Games: Women's 5,000 metres. Sports-Reference. Retrieved on 2010-11-27.
  4. ↑ 2007 World Championships Women's 5000m final. IAAF.
  5. ↑ IAAF, March 1, 2009: Kitwara and Cheruiyot, new champions and men’s record at World’s Best 10K
  6. ↑ IAAF, January 1, 2010: Fulfilling favourite roles, Masai and Cheruiyot prevail in Madrid
  7. ↑ Kuehls, Dave (2010-03-01). Masai and Cheruiyot take crowns in San Juan. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-03-01.
  8. ↑ Negash, Elshadai (2010-07-29). Meite, Okagbare take 100m titles, Cheruiyot over Defar again in the 5000m – African champs Day 2. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-11-27.
  9. ↑ Tyson Gay wraps up Diamond League title in Brussels. BBC Sport (2010-08-27). Retrieved on 2010-11-27.
  10. ↑ Ramsak, Bob (2010-09-05). EVENT Report – Women's 5000 Metres. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-11-27.
  11. ↑ Rowbottom, Mike (2010-10-13). Women’s relay team crowns Indian glory – Commonwealth Games, Day Seven. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-11-27.
  12. ↑ Macharia, David (2010-11-22). Cheruiyot and Rotich prevail at Tuskys Cross Country. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-11-27.
  13. ↑ Sampaolo, Diego (2011-01-01). Merga and Cheruiyot take dramatic victories in Bolzano. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-01-01.
  14. ↑ Wenig, Jorg (2011-01-08). Kipchoge and Masai prevail in snowy Edinburgh. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-01-09.
  15. ↑ Valiente, Emeterio (2011-01-16). Komon defends, Cheruiyot edges Masai in Seville. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-01-19.
  16. ↑ Mutuota, Mutwiri (2011-02-19). Mutai and Masai take hard fought wins in Nairobi; reigning World champs Ebuya and Chebet won’t defend. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-02-20.
  17. ↑ Johnson, Len (2011-03-20). Cheruiyot wins race of champions – Women's Senior Race Report – Punta Umbria 2011. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-03-30.
  18. ↑ Robinson, Javier Clavelo (2012-02-27). Kitwara and Cheruiyot run to triple crown in San Juan 10Km. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-04-03.
  19. ↑ Martin, David (2012-05-31). Bolt’s blazing 9.76 one of seven world leads on electric night in Rome – Samsung Diamond League. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-06-03.
  20. ↑ Mutwiri, Mutuota (2012-06-15). Cheruiyot takes Kenyan 10,000m Olympic Trials race in Nairobi. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-06-16.
  21. ↑ Ramsak, Bob (2012-02-07). Cheruiyot and Pistorius win prestigious world sport awards. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-02-12.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vivian Cheruiyot.
Awards
Preceded by
Nancy Langat		 Kenyan Sportswoman of the Year
2011 		Succeeded by
Mary Jepkosgei Keitany
Preceded by
Blanka Vlašić		 Women's Track & Field Athlete of the Year
2011 		Succeeded by
Valerie Adams
Preceded by
Lindsey Vonn		 Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year
2011 		Succeeded by
Jessica Ennis
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Meseret Defar		 Women's 3000 m Best Year Performance
2008 		Succeeded by
Meseret Defar
Preceded by
Tirunesh Dibaba
and Meseret Defar		 Women's 5000 m Best Year Performance
2010–2012
(shared with Meseret Defar) 		Succeeded by