Former half marathon world record holder Joyciline Jepkosgei has been promoted, days after finishing second in the 2022 London Marathon.
Jepkosgei serves in the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) where she was at the rank of corporal.
But following her latest sterling performance, the 28-year-old long-distance runner has now been promoted to sergeant.
Athletics Kenya (AK) confirmed Jepkosgei’s promotion in a post on its social media pages, also shared on the KDF verified Facebook page.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, October 5, 2022, AK said the athlete who is also the former world record holder in the 10km with 29:43 minutes had been promoted by the Chief of Defence Forces Gen. Robert Kibochi.
“Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) General Robert Kibochi, on Tuesday 4th October 2022, promoted Corporal Joyciline Jepkosgei to Sergeant (Sgt) at the Defence Headquarters in Nairobi following her second position finish 2022 London Marathon on Sunday. Congratulations Joyciline,” the AK posted on their official Facebook page.
Morale booster
In the London Marathon, Joyciline Jepkosgei clocked 2:18.06 to finish second behind winner Yalemzerf Yehualaw of Ethiopia who finished the race in a time of 2:17.26.
The Kenyan runner was the defending champion.
Another Ethiopian runner Megertu Alemu finished third with a Personal Best (PB) of 2:18:32.
Despite losing the London Marathon title to the archrivals, the Ethiopians, Jepkosgei’s promotion will come as a morale booster for her.
The athlete has had a colourful career, having won a bronze medal over 10,000m at the African Championships in Athletics in 2016.
She ran a world record for the half marathon of 1:04:52 at the Prague Half Marathon in April 2017, becoming the first woman ever to break the 65 minutes barrier.
Six records in six months
Further, Joyciline Jepkosgei also unofficially broke the IAAF-ratified records for 10 km, 15 km and 20 km along the way, breaking a total of four world records in a single event.
She became the first Kenyan ever to break six world records in six months.
Speaking during the promotion ceremony, Gen. Kibochi said, “We are very grateful for your continuous hard work and for representing Kenya and KDF well. We wish you the best as competing at such high levels requires a lot of hard work and determination. I am confident that you will continue doing better since you are still young.”
