Until 30 September 2014, Mosop was managed by Jos Hermens and coached by Renato Canova. At the 2011 Boston Marathon, Mosop and countryman Geoffrey Mutai ran what at the time were the fastest times ever recorded for a marathon – 2:03:06 and 2:03:02, respectively – bettering the Boston course record by nearly three minutes.[3]
Career
Early running
Born in Kamasia, Marakwet District, Mosop started running while at primary school and later went to Marakwet High School. He qualified for the 2002 IAAF World Cross Country Championships held in Belfast, where he finished tenth in the junior race. It was in this occasion that he joined the management of the Italian Gianni Demadonna, and started to be coached by Renato Canova, that developed his talent from the youth category up to the current international level.
He headed further up the podium at the 2007 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. He finished second in the senior race and took the team gold with Kenya. He took back-to-back wins at the Giro al Sas 10K race in 2007 and 2008.[5] In March 2009 he won the Cross di Alà dei Sardi in Sardinia.[6] He returned to world competition two years later, but he could not repeat his medal form at the 2009 World Cross Country Championships (finishing in eleventh place), although he still won team gold with Kenya.
His first race of 2011 was the Paris Half Marathon, where he finished second behind Stephen Kibet.[11] On 2011-04-18, he ran his marathon debut at the Boston Marathon, coming second in a time of 2:03:06. He and fellow countryman Geoffrey Mutai ran what at the time were the fastest times ever recorded for a marathon, shattering the time of the then existing world record (2:03:59 by Haile Gebrselassie) by nearly one minute, and the Boston course record by nearly three minutes. Helped by ideal cool temperatures and a strong tailwind on the point-to-point course, the lead pack reached the halfway mark on record pace of 1:01:54. The two Kenyans broke away from the pack at 30 kilometres and ran stride-for-stride over the last 12 kilometres until a sprint in the final straight-away by Mutai gave him the victory by four seconds, 2:03:02 to 2:03:06.[12]
Because Boston is a point-to-point course, with an overall downhill slope, the times were not officially recognised. The IAAF rules essentially require marathon records to be established on a loop course (thereby neutralising the impact of wind and course elevation changes). The previous record at Boston was 2:05:52, set in 2010 by Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot who was the first to break 2:06 at Boston, while the current world record (yet to be ratified) is 2:02:57, run by Dennis Kimetto at Berlin in 2014.
As part of the 2011 Prefontaine Classic, Mosop was selected in an attempt to break the world record for the infrequently contested 30,000 m on the track. He shattered Toshihiko Seko's thirty-year-old world record by over two and a half minutes, running a time of 1:26:47.4 hours. He also smashed Seko's 25,000 m record by a minute and a half, passing the 25K intermediate mark at 1:12:25.4 hours.[13] He stepped down in distance to run at the B.A.A. 10K in June and took third place on the podium.[14]
2011-10-09, Mosop won the Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:05:37, beating Sammy Wanjiru's course record by four seconds. At the start of 2012, he was sixth at the Paris Half Marathon in preparation for the Rotterdam Marathon the following month.[15] He was the pre-race favourite and attempted to break the marathon world record, but fell behind Yemane Tsegay and Getu Feleke, eventually finishing with a time of 2:05:03 hours.[16] Nevertheless, he was selected for the Kenyan Olympic marathon team, but a tendon injury forced him to withdraw and he was replaced by Emmanuel Mutai.[17]
Personal life
In 2005 Mosop was reported to be married with Rose Cheruiyot (not the runner of the same name) with one daughter.[18] By 2010 he was married to fellow runner Florence Kiplagat, with whom he has daughter Aisha.[19] His brothers Elias Mosop and Philemon Mosop are also runners.
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