New York City Marathon 2013 - Men's Bios

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New York City Marathon 2013 - Men's Bios
Courtesy of New York Road Runners

See Also: Men's Race Preview and Starters List

Geoffrey Mutai | Tsegaye Kebede | Wesley Korir | Stanley Biwott | Martin Lel | Stephen Kiprotich |
Meb Keflezighi

Victah Sailer / PhotoRun

Geoffrey Mutai
Age: 32
Country: KEN
PB: 2:03:02, 2011 Boston Marathon
Mutai won the 2011 ING New York City Marathon and shattered the course record by more than two and a half minutes. At the 2011 Boston Marathon, he outsprinted Moses Mosop on Boylston Street to win by four seconds. Their times turned the marathoning world on its head: Mutai's 2:03:02 was nearly a full minute faster than Haile Gebrselassie's then–world record of 2:03:59, set on the ultra-fast Berlin course. But although Boston's course is famously hilly, it also has a net drop in elevation and is point-to-point, which allows the effects of tailwinds and disqualifies the race for record purposes. When Mutai won the 2012 BMW Berlin Marathon, he ecame the only active male runner to have won three of the World Marathon Majors-and the win gave him the $500,000 World Marathon Majors title for 2011–2012.

photo: Victah Sailer / PhotoRun

Tsegaye Kebede
Age: 26
Country: ETH
PB: 2:04:38, 2012 Chicago Marathon
Kebede could win the 2012–2013 World Marathon Majors title without running in New York, but he has decided to control his own destiny by racing his only challenger, Uganda's Stephen Kiprotich, who defeated him in this year's IAAF World Championships in August. (Kebede was fourth; Kiprotich won.) The 5-foot-2, 110-pound Kebede won his second Virgin London Marathon this year with a come-from-behind strategy (he also won in 2010). He was the marathon bronze medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Marathon (in only his second year as a pro) and at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin. He has won the Fukuoka Marathon twice, the Paris Marathon, and the Abebe Bikila Marathon, named for his legendary countryman. Kebede is the fifth of 13 children.

photo: Victah Sailer / PhotoRun

Wesley Korir
Age: 30
Country: KEN
PB: 2:06:11, 2012 Chicago Marathon
The Kenyan-born, American-educated Korir, who holds a BA in biology from the University of Louisville, is one of the most engaging and personable athletes in the sport. His athletic accomplishments include two wins at the Los Angeles Marathon and a victory at the scorching 2012 Boston Marathon, as well as a 2:06:13 personal best set in Chicago last October. But it's Korir's activity away from running that truly inspires. In 2010, he started the Kenyan Kids Foundation to improve healthcare and education for children in his homeland; the organization is nearly finished building a new hospital in his hometown of Kitale. Last winter, he was elected to Kenya's parliament, running on a platform of eradicating poverty and fighting government corruption. During his five-year term in office, Korir and his Canadian wife, Tarah, and their children are living in Kenya full-time.

photo: Victah Sailer / PhotoRun

Stanley Biwott
Age: 27
Country: KEN
PB: 2:05:12, 2012 Paris Marathon
Biwott has lowered his marathon personal best in huge increments over the last two years. He dropped more than two and a half minutes at the 2011 Chosunilbo Chunchon Marathon in Korea, running 2:07:03. Later that year, Biwott won the Paris Marathon in a course-record 2:05:11. He also broke the one-hour barrier for the first time (59:44) to set a course record at the 2011 Paris Half-Marathon. But the City of Light isn't the only place where he shines: Biwott also lit up the East Coast in 2012, winning the New Balance Falmouth Road Race in Massachusetts, the TD Beach to Beacon 10K in Maine, and the Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia Half-Marathon. Biwott is coached by Claudio Berardelli as part of the camp overseen by Dr. Gabriele Rosa, which has produced six ING New York City Marathon champions.

photo: Victah Sailer / PhotoRun

Martin Lel
Age: 35
Country: KEN
PB: 2:05:15, 2008 London Marathon
Lel, the 2003 and 2007 ING New York City Marathon champion, was the world's preeminent male marathoner from 2005 to 2008. Known as the event's fastest finisher, he has won the London Marathon three times (2005, 2006, 2008), setting a then–course record of 2:05:15 in 2008. He won his ING New York City Marathon debut in 2003 by 41 seconds over the defending champion, Rodgers Rop, and then returned to the race in 2007 and sprinted away from Morocco's Abderrahim Goumri in the final half-mile to win again.

Lel was limited to a fifth-place finish in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Marathon by a bout of malaria and was injured for much of the next two years, but he rebounded to take second place in London in 2011 and 2012. He will be running the ING New York City Marathon for the first time since winning his second title here six years ago.

photo: Victah Sailer / PhotoRun

Stephen Kiprotich
Age: 24
Country: UGA
PB: 2:07:20, 2011 Enschede Marathon
Almost unknown when he started the 2012 London Olympic marathon, Kiprotich stayed in the front pack behind breakaway leader Wilson Kipsang of Kenya until late in the race, when he reeled in Kipsang and two-time world champion Abel Kirui, then put them away with a surprise surge to win the gold medal. Many thought that the Ugandan would find it hard to replicate that performance, but the doubts were disproved convincingly when once again he dropped a pack of men with much faster personal best times to win the 2013 IAAF World Championships Marathon in Moscow. When Kiprotich makes his New York debut, it's safe to say that everyone will be taking him very seriously.

photo: Victah Sailer / PhotoRun

Meb Keflezighi
Age: 38
Country: USA
PB: 2:09:08, 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials (New York City)
The 2004 Olympic marathon silver medalist lengthened his remarkable stay at the top of the U.S. ranks when he placed fourth in the London 2012 Olympic marathon after passing 13 men in the second half of the race. He earned his spot on Team USA with a win at the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon in January, pulling away from Ryan Hall at the end to record a personal-best 2:09:07. He had run his previous PR of 2:09:15 only 10 weeks earlier at the 2011 ING New York City Marathon, where he took sixth; in 2009, he had become the first American in 27 years to win that race. He has finished in the top 10 in New York six times.

Keflezighi was born in Eritrea in a village with no electricity. His parents took their 11 children out of the country when a war with Ethiopia would have forced the boys into the military. They eventually settled in San Diego, CA; Keflezighi became a U.S. citizen in 1998, and won four NCAA titles while at UCLA. After graduation, he continued to train with his college coach, Bob Larsen, and he set a 10,000-meter national record of 27:13.98 in 2001 that stood for nine years.

Coverage Homepage

Post Race: Men's Post-Race | Women's Post-Race | Complete Searchable Results

Pre-Race:
Men: Men's Preview & Starter List | Men's Athlete Bios
Women: Women's Preview & Starter List | Women's Athlete Bios |
Head-to-Heads: Elite Athlete Past Matchups
Extras: Pace Calculator/Pace Guide/Viewing | Videos (Athletes/Archival/More...)
More News: Press Releases | News (other sources)
Featured Book/Movie: Run For Your Life | A Race Like No Other