Rosemary Wanjiru

Rosemary Monica Wanjiru (born 9 December 1994)[1] is a Kenyan professional female long-distance runner. She won the silver medal in the 5000 metres at the 2015 African Games, and represented her country at the 2019 World Athletics Championships, finishing fourth in the 10,000 metres. Wanjiru won the 2023 Tokyo Marathon and placed second at the 2022 Berlin Marathon. With her Tokyo mark, she sits sixth on the marathon world all-time list.

Rosemary Wanjiru
Wanjiru (second left) at the 2023 World Athletics Championships
Personal information
Born (1994-12-09) 9 December 1994
Mombasa, Kenya
Sport
CountryKenya
SportAthletics
Event(s)Long-distance running
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Kenya
African Games
Silver medal – second place2015 Brazzaville5000 m
World Marathon Majors
Gold medal – first place2023 TokyoMarathon
Silver medal – second place2022 BerlinMarathon

She achieved the second-fastest ever women's marathon debut at the time at the 2022 Berlin Marathon.

Career

Rosemary Wanjiru moved to Japan as a teenager and began competing in long-distance competitions there. She was runner-up in the 3000 metres at the 2012 National Sports Festival of Japan, and won the national high schools championship over that distance the following year along with the Chiba International Cross Country title.[2] In 2014 she began competing in Corporate Japanese competitions for Team Starts.[3] In her first year of corporate competition she was East Japan champion over 1500 metres and 3000 m. She won the 2015 Sanyo Women's 10K and the 5000 m at the Japan Corporate Track and Field Championships, Oda Memorial and Nobeoka Golden Games.[4]

Wanjiru made her international debut at the 2015 African Games and won a silver medal in the 5000 m, forming a Kenyan sweep of the medals alongside Margaret Chelimo and Alice Aprot.[5] The year after she was beaten into second place at the Japan Corporate Championships by another Kenyan, Ann Karindi Mwangi. She repeated as champion at the Oda Memorial and Sanyo Women's 10K. In 2017 and 2018 she won both the Japan Corporate title and the Oda Memorial 5000 m.[4]

In 2019, Wanjiru began to compete more frequently outside of Japan. She won the Lilac Bloomsday Run and Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run in the United States before going on to place third in the 10,000 m at the Kenyan Athletics Championships. This earned her her second international selection for Kenya, this time at the 2019 World Athletics Championships.[2] At the World Championships she teamed up with compatriots Agnes Jebet Tirop and Hellen Obiri to lead the pace. She fell away from the leaders in the final stage of the race and ended the race in fourth place, behind Sifan Hassan, Letesenbet Gidey and Tirop.[6]

In 2020, she competed in the women's half marathon at the 2020 World Athletics Half Marathon Championships held in Gdynia, Poland, placing 10th.[7]

Two years later, Wanjiru produced the second-fastest ever women's marathon debut at the Berlin Marathon with a time of 2:18:00. She went under the previous course record and finished second.[8][9]

In March 2023, Wanjiru won the Tokyo Marathon with a 2:16:28 clocking, taking more than a minute and a half off her personal best to move up to sixth on the event's world all-time list. This was only the second marathon race of her career.[1][10]

International competitions
Representing  Kenya
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
2015 African Games Brazzaville, Congo 2nd 5000 m 15:30.18
2019 World Championships Doha, Qatar 4th 10,000 m 30:35.75
2020 World Half Marathon Championships Gdynia, Poland 10th Half Marathon 1:07:10
2023 World Championships Budapest, Hungary 6th Marathon 2:26:42
World Marathon Majors
2022 Berlin Marathon Berlin, Germany 2nd Marathon 2:18:00
2023 Tokyo Marathon Tokyo, Japan 1st Marathon 2:16:28

See also

References
  1. "Rosemary WANJIRU – Athlete Profile". World Athletics. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  2. Rosemary Monica Wanjiru. IAAF. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
  3. Larner, Brett (2016-04-30). Wanjiru and Kamais Take 5000 m Titles at 50th Oda Memorial Meet. Japan Running News. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
  4. Rosemary-Monica Wanjiru. Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
  5. 5000 m - Women - Final. Brazzaville2015. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
  6. Landells, Steve (2019-09-28). Report: women's 10,000m - IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019. IAAF. Retrieved 2019-09-29.
  7. "Women's Half Marathon" (PDF). 2020 World Athletics Half Marathon Championships. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 October 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  8. Murimi, Brian (2022-09-25). "Rosemary Wanjiru runs the second-fastest women's marathon debut in history, clocking 2:18:00". NTV Kenya. Retrieved 2022-10-01.
  9. "Tigist Assefa Runs Nearly 20-Minute PR to Destroy Berlin Marathon Course Record". Runner's World. 25 September 2022. Archived from the original on 25 September 2022.
  10. Henderson, Jason (5 March 2023). "Rosemary Wanjiru and Deso Gelmisa take Tokyo Marathon titles". AW. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
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