Abel Kirui (born 6 April 1982) is a long-distance runner from Kenya who competes in marathons. He had back-to-back wins in the World Championshipmarathon in 2009 and 2011. Kirui won in 2009 with a time of 2:06:54, then defended his title with a winning margin of two minutes and 28 seconds – the largest ever margin at the World Championship event. He earned the silver medal in the 2012 London Olympicmarathon.
Abel Kirui started running while in Samitui Primary School. After high school, the jobless Kirui entered a recruitment race by Administration Police (AP); the winner of such race would be recruited by AP. He won the race and subsequently joined AP, starting serious training only after then. He entered the 2006 Berlin Marathon as a pacemaker, but finished the race ninth.[1]
After the 2009 World Championships, Kirui had many unsuccessful attempts to show the dominance he had shown in his Berlin race: he finished in fifth place at the 2010 London Marathon,[citation needed] then failed to finish at the 2011 London Marathon.
Immediately after that failure, he started training with the Italian Coach Renato Canova, moving from Kapsabet to Iten, together with Jonathan Maiyo. Training with Canova's group, he was able to recruit the best shape, winning in Daegu his second title in World Championships.[citation needed] Kirui ran at the Prefontaine Classic track 25K/30K mixed race, hoping to set a new 25k track record. Although he just managed to dip under the previous world record time for the track 25K, he was well beaten by fellow Kenyan and teammate Moses Mosop, who broke both 25K and 30K world records.[4]
Kirui lives at Nabkoi, east of Kapsabet. He is married to Stella Jemeli and has a son Tevin Kipchumba.[11]
Kirui is a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.[12][13] Kirui along with fellow Seventh-day Adventists Priscah Jeptoo and Amos Tirop Matui founded Better Living Marathon.[14]
Marathon runner Michael Kosgei Rotich is his uncle.[1] Kirui is coached by Renato Canova.[citation needed]
