With two World Championships Marathon victories and an Olympic Games Marathon silver medal on his resumé, Abel Kirui is a championship-style racer who should perform well in Boston. Kirui made his marathon debut in 2006 and quickly improved. He first broke the 2:07 barrier with his runner-up performance at the 2007 Berlin Marathon, where he finished behind Haile Gebrselassie’s 2:04:26 world record run. In 2008, Kirui took home the win in Vienna, but did not perform well at World Marathon Majors events. At the 2009 World Championships Marathon in Berlin, the race came down to Kirui and training partner Emmanuel Mutai, but with 5K to go Kirui prevailed and won the race in 2:06:54, which was a World Championships record by 97 seconds. Two year later, Kirui won gold again at the World Championships Marathon in Daegu, and this time he won by a record margin of 2:38 over the field, recording a time of 2:07:38. At the 2012 London Olympic Marathon, Kirui won the silver medal behind Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda and ahead of countryman Wilson Kipsang.

“I chose Boston because I think I can do well on this course,” says Kirui. “I like courses that are not totally flat. I have also heard of the rich and long history, which makes it a special race. Also I hope to win Boston because I have never won a marathon in the USA before.” After finishing primary and secondary school, Kirui was recruited by the Administration Police and attended college. He is now a chief inspector of police.

He is married to his wife, Stella, and the couple has a boy named Kipchumba and a girl named Joylene.

“I am very proud to compete in a marathon with such a rich history and I hope to write some history myself in Boston!”