Background
Kibet was born in Kaplelach village, Moiben division, Uasin Gishu District.
long-distance runner marathon runner athletics competitor
Kibet was born in Kaplelach village, Moiben division, Uasin Gishu District.
Kibet entered his first marathon, 2004 Enschede Marathon, as a pacemaker, but finished the race at 2nd position timing 2:11:06. He finished second also at the 2004 Frankfurt Marathon.
Famed Kenyan runners Samson Kitur and Noah Ngeny come from the same area. Kibet took up running in 1996, aged 13, impressed by the Kenyan performances at the 1996 Summer Olympics. He went to Moiben Secondary School from 1997 to 2000 and then joined Kenya Prisons Service.
Kibet originally specialized in the steeplechase, his personal best being 8:25.4 minutes.
He ran his first half marathon in 2003, finishing fourth in the City-Pier-City Loop in Den Haag. He took up the marathon in 2004 and reached the international level in this event.
lieutenant was the first Kenyan marathon victory at the World Championships since Douglas Wakiihuri in 1987. During the 2007-2008 riots in Kenya, Kibet was attacked by a mob and hurt heavily by a stone, which hit his head
Kibet took part at the 2008 London Marathon and finished 11th, but was not well prepared due to injury.
He was a late entrant to the 2008 Olympic Marathon, after Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot pulled out. Kibet did not finish the Olympic race. He finished the otherwise disappointing year by winning Singapore Marathon in December, setting a new course record of 2:13:01.
He began the 2009 season by winning the Lagos Half Marathon on February.
He won the marathon race at the 2007 World Championships. In 2003, he won the Tilburg Ten Miles race in Tilburg, Netherlands. He also won a 25-km race in Berlin that year. Kibet won Taipei Marathon in 2005 and 2006. His personal best time is 2:08:52 hours, achieved in October 2005 in Eindhoven where he finished third. In the half marathon his personal best time is 1:00:43 hours, achieved in September 2006 in Rotterdam Half Marathon, where he finished sixth. Kibet won the Vienna Marathon in 2007. He won the gold medal at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics in a time of 2:15:59 hours. Kibet"s win was a surprise given that before the race the Kenyan marathon team was termed by many as the "worst ever assembled". On October 28, 2007 he won the Great South Run 10-mile race in Portsmouth, England. He is not be confused with another Kenyan marathon runner named Luke Kibet, who is eight years older and won the Country Music Marathon in 2004.
He did not finish his next marathon, London Marathon in April 2009, but he successfully defended the Singapore Marathon title, breaking again the course record (new record 21125 minutes).