Career
She was the runner-up in the marathon at both the World Championships in Athletics in 2011 and the 2012 London Olympics. She ranks third all-time over the half marathon distance with her best of 66 minutes and 11 seconds (and 65:45 minutes on the Great North Run downhill course). She began competing at top level competitions in 2008 and made the top ten women at the Saint Silvester Road Race that year.
Her 2009 began with two wins in Portugal, at the Douro-Tal Half Marathon and then the Corrida Festas Cidade do Porto 15K race.
These preceded a course record-breaking run at the Porto Marathon in November, as she recorded a time of 2:30:40 hours for her debut effort. At the start of the following year she took second place at the Padua Marathon.
She returned to Kenya in 2011 and came second at the Discovery Kenya Cross Country behind Priscah Jepleting. This knocked off more than four minutes from her previous best and was the second fastest run ever recorded on the course.
Jeptoo was part of a Kenyan sweep of the medals, with Sharon Cherop taking the bronze, making it the first time that a country had taken all the medals in the World Championships marathon.
At the start of 2012 she finished second to Joice Chepkurui at the Discovery Kenya Cross Country. She ran a personal best of 2:20:14 at the 2012 London Marathon, taking third place. This performance gained her a place on the Kenyan Olympic team and she went on to take the silver medal in the Olympic marathon.
She moved up to third on the half marathon all-time lists with a time of 66:11 minutes at the RAK Half Marathon in February 2013, although the exceptionally fast race saw her finish second behind Lucy Kabuu.
Competing for the first time since dropping out of the London Marathon with a leg injury in April 2014, Priscah Jeptoo marked her return from injury with a very fast time at the Seven Hills Run 15km road-race in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Her time 46:59 makes her the 4th fastest all-time.