Janeth Jepkosgei

For Janeth Jepkosgei, it was a twist of fate that led her down the road that has seen her go from a talented multi-event competitor to the pre-eminent women’s 800m runner in the world. Jepkosgei began competiting in track and field as a 400m hurdler at Kapsombeiwa Primary School, and later as an heptathlete at Sing’ore Girls’ High School. She only first picked up the 800m in 1999 when, at the Kenyan trials for the World Youth Championships, there was no 400m hurdles to contest and so Jepkosgei decided to try the 800m for a change. She finished second and qualified for her first international championships.

The following year at the East Africa Youth Championships, Jepkosgei captured gold over 400m hurdles and silver in the 800m. In 2001, she won a silver medal over 800m at the African Junior Championships. It was that medal that got her an invitation to the Kip Keino High Performance Training Centre in Eldoret where she was coached by 1988 Olympic 800m gold medalist Paul Ereng. In her last year as a junior, Jepkosgei won the 800m gold medal at the 2002 IAAF World Junior Championships in Kingston, Jamaica.

This immense success as a junior, however, was met by disappointment during Jepkosgei’s initial outings on the senior circuit. Though she won the 800m at the Kenyan Olympic Trials in 2004, she failed to achieve the Olympic qualifying standard and thus did not compete in Athens. Similarly in 2005, she won the Kenyan Trials for the world championships but came just shy of achieving the ‘A’ standard to compete at the World Championships in Helsinki.

It was this double heartbreak that no doubt served as the fuel to fire Jepkosgei’s breakthrough in 2006. Having easily won the Kenyan Trials in February, Jepkosgei came to Melbourne determined to win a senior medal for Kenya. In the end, a well-timed kick vanquished the great Maria Mutola and secured Jepkosgei with her first senior international title. She would go on to break and re-break her own Kenyan national record twice, and collect victories in Gateshead, Lausanne and most importantly at the African Championships in Mauritius.

Though 2006 had been a breakthrough year for Jepkosgei, 2007 was a banner year. Though she won only a single race before the Kenyan Trials, Jepkosgei wasted no time in showing who the favorite was for gold at the IAAF World Championships in Osaka. Jepkosgei wowed the crowd at Nagai Stadium with a 1:56.17 national record in the semi-finals, and then followed it up with another front-running performance in the final setting another national record of 1:56.04. Following Osaka, Jepkosgei was utterly dominant, winning her remaining five races of the year, including a rare sub-two minute performance in Nairobi. It’s a pattern of domination that Jepkosgei plans to replicate this summer in Beijing.