NYRR Media Center
Abel Kipchumba
Abel Kipchumba owns the fastest half-marathon time (58:07) in the 2024 United Airlines NYC Half open field and will be making his NYRR racing debut. His upright, arched-back running style is a result of his previous job of carrying 200-pound sacks of maize.
He has run three half marathons under one hour, won the 2021 Valencia Half Marathon, and finished fifth at the 2022 Berlin Marathon after sustaining a stress fracture of his patella during the race. Kipchumba is coming off a victory at November’s B.A.A. Half Marathon in Boston, where he broke away from the rest of the field with 5K to go.
Kipchumba is married and spent two months living in San Diego in 2019 to help develop the first iteration of his sponsor’s super shoe.
- Date of Birth Feb 3, 1994
- Age 31
- Gender Man
- Country Kenya
- Residence Iten, Kenya
Career Highlights
| Year | Event | Place | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | B.A.A. Half Marathon | 1st | 1:01:32 |
| 2022 | Berlin Marathon | 5th | 2:06:49 |
| 2022 | Berlin Half Marathon | 3rd | 59:58 |
| 2021 | Valencia Half Marathon | 1st | 58:07 |
| 2020 | Houston Half Marathon | 5th | 59:35 |