His progress has been astonishing in the last few years. He started his marathon career in 2017 with 2:25:51 in Moshi, Tanzania and the next year improved it to 2:21:54 The standard chartered marathon in Nairobi.
In 2022 he reached a new level in Gothenburg Sweden on 21 May 2022 running a very good half marathon in 1:01:31, in the hometown of celebrated Swedish coach Jan Stensson. This pointed to a very good marathon coming up. The double half marathon time +5 minutes for elite runners seems to have come into place with this win in Porto, but I suspect he can go even faster because I do not think that Porto is the fastest course.
In other news on the same day, November 6, 2022, but in a different time zone in Guadalajara Mexico, six Kenyans nabbed the first six places in the marathon of that city. I think some of those Kenyans who featured in this race are based in Mexico and running and training from the volcano city of Toluca. This may be an offshoot of the former Zacatecas running club.
Kenyans will export their talents to all corners of the world and there are even Kenyans based in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand among other esoteric locales. Their dedication to task and abnegation of luxury is admirable in order to feed their families back home. This is how they operate with the bulk of their earnings being sent home through Western Union to feed their families and extended family.
1. E.Koech 2:10:19
2. K.Kiplagat 2:10:46
3. S.Cheprot 2:11:21
7. O.Crisosstomo 2:19:59 (first Mexican)