caption updated birth_place weight height pb birth_date image article_title name
kiplagat at the 2012 world indoor championships 7 august 2012 siboh village , marakwet district , kenya 56 kg lb on -lrb- 2012 -rrb- 1.70 m ftin on -lrb- 2012 -rrb- '' : 3:27:64 -lrb- 2014 -rrb- ' 1500 & nbsp ; m '' ' 20 august 1989 silas kiplagat.jpg silas kiplagat
 silas kiplagat
silas kiplagat

silas kiplagat -lrb- born 20 august 1989 -rrb- is a kenyan middle-distance runner who specialises in the 1500 metres .
he is the reigning commonwealth games champion in the event .
he has a personal best of 3:27.64 minutes , which makes him the fourth fastest of all-time over the distance .
born in siboh village , marakwet district , he started training in seriousness for competitive running in 2008 after completing chebara high school in marakwet district .
he met sammy kitwara and the professional trained with him and introduced him to his coach , moses kiptanui , a three-time world champion in the steeplechase .
he initially wanted to follow kitwara into longer distances , but kiptanui recognised his speed and urged him to try shorter events instead .
he tried his hand at cross country running and was seventeenth at the kenyan national cross country championships .
an appearance at the world 's best 10k in puerto rico saw him finish in tenth place .
it was only when he ran in the 1500 metres that he showed his true athletic potential : he won the race at the kenya prisons championships and then was runner-up at the national championships , beaten only by the reigning olympic champion asbel kiprop .
italian coach renato canova assisting him technically introduced him to the italian manager gianni demadonna that signed him up , gaining him a place in the 1500 m at the herculis meeting in monaco .
his european debut marked a meteoric arrival onto the elite athletics scene -- not only did he outrun more experienced runners such as amine laâlou and augustine choge , but he improved his personal best time by five seconds of 3:29.27 and raised himself into the top ten fastest runners ever for the event .
he gained selection for the event at the 2010 african championships in athletics and he just missed out on a medal , finishing fourth behind mekonnen gebremedhin .
he returned to europe and won at the internationales stadionfest and was second at the rieti meeting to asbel kiprop .
after the close of the european summer track and field circuit , he represented kenya at the 2010 commonwealth games in new delhi .
he and james magut completed a kenyan 1 -- 2 as kiplagat became the commonwealth champion with a tactical performance to beat defending champion nick willis .
