# Vivian Cheruiyot

Vivian Jepkemoi Cheruiyot (born 11 September 1983) is a Kenyan long-distance runner. She represented Kenya at the Summer Olympics in 2000, 2008, 2012, and 2016, winning the silver medal in the 5,000 metres and bronze in the 10,000 metres at the 2012 London Olympics as well as gold in the 5,000 m and silver in the 10,000 m at the 2016 Rio Olympics, setting a new Olympic record in the former. Cheruiyot won the silver medal in the 5,000 m at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics and became the world champion in the event at the 2009 edition, repeating this achievement in 2011, when she also won the 10,000 m. She added gold for the latter event at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics. After taking a silver in the 3,000 metres at the 2010 World Indoor Championships, Cheruiyot won a number of outdoor 5,000 m titles that year, becoming Commonwealth Games, African and Continental Cup champion, as well as winning the Diamond League title.
She is a three-time Diamond League champion, having also won the 2011 and 2012 editions. She is the Kenyan record holder for the 2,000 m and 10,000 m. In 2012, Cheruiyot was voted Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year. She is nicknamed "pocket rocket".

## Career

Vivian Cheruiyot is trained by Ricky Simms. She was born near Keiyo in the Rift Valley Province, coming from the same village as another female runner Alice Timbilili.
Her breakthrough year came in 1999: at the age of fifteen she took the junior silver medal at the 1999 IAAF World Cross Country Championships behind Werknesh Kidane. At the 1999 World Youth Championships in Athletics she won the bronze medal in the 3000 metres. Cheruiyot earned a senior call-up for the 1999 All-Africa Games, where she managed a bronze medal in the 5000 metres. She became the junior champion at the 2000 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. Cheruiyot gained selection for the 2000 Olympic Games and reached the 5000 m final after setting personal bests in the qualifying rounds. She was much slower in the final and was the last runner to finish.
Cheruiyot won the silver medal at the 5000 m final of the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan with a time of 14:58.50, behind Meseret Defar in 14:57.91.
In early 2009 she broke the Kenyan indoor 3000 m record with a time of 8:30.53 in Birmingham, and won the World's Best 10K race in Puerto Rico. In May, she won the Great Manchester Run 10K race. Cheruiyot won the women's 5000 m at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin with a time of 14 minutes 58.33 seconds, while countrywoman Sylvia Kibet took the silver. She closed the track season with a 3000 m silver and a 5000 m bronze at the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final. She won the 2009 New Year's Eve San Silvestre Vallecana race.
Cheruiyot retained her World's Best 10K title in 2010. An appearance at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships resulted in a silver medal in the 3000 m behind Meseret Defar. Cheruiyot then headed the Kenyan 5000 m challenge at the African Championships in Athletics in Nairobi and beat Defar on this occasion to take the African title. After this, her main focus of the year was the Diamond League. She took victories in the 5000 m at the Meeting Areva and Memorial van Damme and was elected the inaugural Diamond League Trophy winner for the event on overall points. She defeated Sentayehu Ejigu at the Continental Cup to take the 5000 m gold medal for Africa. Another gold medal in the event came at the Commonwealth Games held that year in Delhi, where she headed a Kenyan podium sweep with Sylvia Kibet and Ines Chenonge. Cheruiyot returned to Kenya to train and took an 8 km win at the Tuskys Cross Country meeting. She ended the year on a high note with a win at the BOclassic 5K race on New Year's Eve.
Cheruiyot began preparing for the World Cross Country Championships in January 2011 and came third at the Great Edinburgh Cross Country before overhauling Linet Masai to win the Cross de Itálica in Seville. A second-place finish at the Kenyan Cross Country Championships guaranteed her a place in the Kenyan squad and, in contrast to her successes on the track, she was looking to win her first cross country medal on the world stage. Her rival Masai led the initial charge at the World Cross Country Championships, but Cheruiyot broke away on the final lap to secure the gold medal and lead Kenya to the women's team title.
She started 2012 with a win at the World's Best 10K and improved her best on the roads to 30:47 minutes. She opened the Diamond League circuit with narrow wins ahead of Meseret Defar, first in the 3000 m in Doha and then over 5000 m in Rome. Cheruiyot guaranteed her place at the Olympics by winning the 10,000 m trial in Nairobi in June. At the Olympics, she won the silver medal in the 5000 metres and a bronze at the 10,000 metres.
In 2018, she won the 2018 London Marathon with a time of 2:18:31.
She took second place in the 2018 New York City Marathon, finishing in 2:26:02 far behind winner Mary Keitany in 2:22:48, and 20 seconds ahead of Shalane Flanagan who ran 2:26:22.

## Achievements

All information taken from World Athletics profile.

### Personal bests

| Type | Event | Time (m:s) | Venue | Date | Notes |
| Track | 1500 metres | 4:06.6h | Nairobi, Kenya | 18 May 2012 | |
| Track | 2000 metres | 5:31.52 | Eugene, OR, United States | 7 June 2009 | NR |
| Track | 3000 metres | 8:28.66 | Stuttgart, Germany | 23 September 2007 | |
| Track | 3000 metres indoor | 8:30.53 | Birmingham, United Kingdom | 21 February 2009 | |
| Track | Two miles indoor | 9:12.35 | Birmingham, United Kingdom | 20 February 2010 | |
| Track | 5000 metres | 14:20.87 | Stockholm, Sweden | 29 July 2011 | |
| Track | 10,000 metres | 29:32.53 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 12 August 2016 | NR |
| Road | 5 kilometres | 15:11 | London, United Kingdom | 6 September 2009 | |
| Road | 10 kilometres | 30:47 | San Juan, Puerto Rico | 26 February 2012 | |
| Road | 10 miles | 51:17 | Portsmouth, United Kingdom | 25 October 2015 | |
| Road | Half marathon | 1:06:34 | Lisbon, Portugal | 17 March 2019 | |
| Road | Marathon | 2:18:31 | London, United Kingdom | 22 April 2018 | |

### International competitions

Representing  Kenya :
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Time |
| 1998 | World Cross Country Championships | Marrakech, Morocco | 5th | Junior race (6 km) | 19:47 |
| 1999 | World Cross Country Championships | Belfast, Northern Ireland | 2nd | Junior race (6.124 km) | 21:37 |
| 1999 | All-Africa Games | Johannesburg, South Africa | 3rd | 5000 m | 15:42.79 |
| 1999 | World Youth Championships | Bydgoszcz, Poland | 3rd | 3000 m | 9:04.42 |
| 2000 | World Cross Country Championships | Vilamoura, Portugal | 1st | Junior race (6.29 km) | 20:34 |
| 2001 | World Cross Country Championships | Ostend, Belgium | 4th | Junior race (5.9 km) | 20:22 |
| 2001 | African Junior Championships | Réduit, Mauritius | 1st | 5000 m | 16:19.54 |
| 2002 | World Cross Country Championships | Dublin, Ireland | 3rd | Junior race (5.962 km) | 20:22 |
| 2002 | World Junior Championships | Kingston, Jamaica | 3rd | 5000 m | 15:56.04 |
| 2004 | World Cross Country Championships | Brussels, Belgium | 8th | Short race (4 km) | 13:23 |
| 2006 | World Cross Country Championships | Fukuoka, Japan | 8th | Short race (4 km) | 13:10 |
| 2006 | World Athletics Final | Stuttgart, Germany | 3rd | 3000 m | 8:38.86 |
| 2006 | World Athletics Final | Stuttgart, Germany | 5th | 5000 m | 16:07.95 |
| 2007 | World Cross Country Championships | Mombasa, Kenya | 8th | Long race (8 km) | 28:10 |
| 2007 | World Championships | Osaka, Japan | 2nd | 5000 m | 14:58.50 |
| 2007 | World Athletics Final | Stuttgart, Germany | 2nd | 3000 m | 8:28.66 PB |
| 2007 | World Athletics Final | Stuttgart, Germany | 1st | 5000 m | 14:56.94 |
| 2008 | Olympic Games | Beijing, China | 4th | 5000 m | 15:46.32 |
| 2008 | World Athletics Final | Stuttgart, Germany | 2nd | 3000 m | 8:44.64 |
| 2008 | World Athletics Final | Stuttgart, Germany | 2nd | 5000 m | 14:54.60 |
| 2009 | World Championships | Berlin, Germany | 1st | 5000 m | 14:57.97 |
| 2009 | World Athletics Final | Thessaloniki, Greece | 2nd | 3000 m | 8:30.61 |
| 2009 | World Athletics Final | Thessaloniki, Greece | 3rd | 5000 m | 15:26.21 |
| 2010 | World Indoor Championships | Doha, Qatar | 2nd | 3000 m | 8:51.85 |
| 2010 | African Championships | Nairobi, Kenya | 1st | 5000 m | 16:18.73 |
| 2010 | Continental Cup | Split, Croatia | 1st | 5000 m | 16:05.74 |
| 2010 | Commonwealth Games | New Delhi, India | 1st | 5000 m | 15:55.12 |
| 2011 | World Cross Country Championships | Punta Umbría, Spain | 1st | Senior race (8 km) | 24:58 |
| 2011 | World Championships | Daegu, South Korea | 1st | 5000 m | 14:55.36 |
| 2011 | World Championships | Daegu, South Korea | 1st | 10,000 m | 30:48.98 |
| 2012 | Olympic Games | London, United Kingdom | 2nd | 5000 m | 15:04.73 |
| 2012 | Olympic Games | London, United Kingdom | 3rd | 10,000 m | 30:30.44 |
| 2015 | World Championships | Beijing, China | 1st | 10,000 m | 31:41.31 |
| 2016 | Olympic Games | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 1st | 5000 m | 14:26.17 OR |
| 2016 | Olympic Games | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 2nd | 10,000 m | 29:32.53 NR |

### Marathon competition record

| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Time | Notes |
| 2003 | Vitoria Marathon | Vittoria, Spain | 1st | 2:41:09 | 13 April |
| 2017 | London Marathon | London, United Kingdom | 4th | 2:23:50 | 23 April |
| 2017 | Frankfurt Marathon | Frankfurt, Germany | 1st | 2:23:35 | 29 October |
| 2018 | London Marathon | London, United Kingdom | 1st | 2:18:31 | 22 April |
| 2018 | New York Marathon | New York, NY, United States | 2nd | 2:26:02 | 4 November |
| 2019 | London Marathon | London, United Kingdom | 2nd | 2:20:14 | 28 April |
| 2019 | Valencia Marathon | Valencia, Spain | 4th | 2:18:52 | 1 December |

### Circuit wins and titles

* Golden League
** 2007: Berlin ISTAF
** 2008: Brussels Memorial Van Damme
* Diamond League Overall 5000 metres winner: 2010, 2011, 2012
       5000 metres wins, other events specified in parentheses
   * 2010 (3): Lausanne Athletissima (3000 m, WL MR), Paris Meeting Areva) (WL MR), Brussels Memorial Van Damme
   * 2011 (4): Shanghai Golden Grand Prix (WL), Eugene Prefontaine Classic (MR), Stockholm DN Galan (WL NR), Zürich Weltklasse (MR)
   * 2012 (4): Doha Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix (3000 m, WL), Rome Golden Gala (WL), London Grand Prix, Brussels
   * 2016 (1): Birmingham British Grand Prix

### National titles

* Kenyan Athletics Championships
** 1500 metres: 2009, 2015
** 5000 metres: 1999, 2010
** 10,000 metres: 2011, 2012

## Recognition

* 2012 Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year