Brigid Kosgei jets backs, eyes firmly on Olympics gold

What you need to know:

  • Kosgei achieved the feat when she clocked 2 hours, 14 minutes and 04 seconds during Sunday's Chicago Marathon.
  • The feat saw her erase Britain's Paula Radcliffe time of 2:15:25 set on April 13, 2003 in London.

New world marathon record holder Brigid Kosgei is back in the country with a full bag of promises, including declaring her availability for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

Speaking to the press Wednesday morning at Riadha House after landing from Chicago where she broke 16-year world marathon record of 2:15:25 held by Briton Paula Radcliffe, Kosgei - who ran 2:14:04 - thanked all Kenyans for giving her the strength to go for the record by cheering her.

“I prepared well for Chicago Marathon. I knew before the race I wanted to do something special. I tried my best and broke the record. My pacemakers did a wonderful job to help me achieve this," the London Marathon champion said.

"I also thank my coach. Without him, there would be no race. I depend a lot on his advice in training. I’m not done yet. I want to improve on this time so that Kenyans can continue being proud for a long time.”

MAIYO ELATED

Kosgei’s coach, Eric Maiyo, said he was happy to see Kosgei break the world record.

“This is the first time I have stepped at Riadha House. It’s wonderful. I thank Brigid for persevering in training. I wanted to break a record myself for a long time since I was an athlete. My best time in marathon was 2:07:42 in 1997 when world record was a minute or two faster (2:05:38),” said Maiyo.

“We will continue training. We will work to see to it that Kosgei wins gold at the Olympics,” he added and disclosed that Kosgei was tested six times by the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (Adak) ahead of Chicago Marathon.

Maiyo said they still target to break the half marathon record after Kosgei clocked 1:04:28 at the Great North Run, in Newcastle in September, but the course is not eligible for a world record.