Milcah Chemos Cheywa

Medal record
Milcah Chemos Cheywa
Women's Athletics
Competitor for  Kenya
World Championships
Bronze	2009 Berlin	3000 m st.
Bronze	2011 Daegu	3000 m st.
Commonwealth Games
Gold	2010 Delhi	3000 m st.
Continental Cup
Silver	2010 Split	3000 m st.

Milcah Chemos Cheywa (born February 26, 1986 in Bugaa, Mount Elgon District) is a runner from Kenya who specialises in 3000 metres steeplechase. She won bronze medals at the distance at both the 2009 and 2011 World Championships in Athletics.

Career

She is from Bugaa village, but moved to Kitale with her family, where she went to Matumbei and St Phillips primary schools. Later she went to St Claire’s Girls High School in Maragoli.^[1]

After schooling she went to the Kenya Police College (KPC) in Kiganjo in 2005. There she met Alex Sang and soon married. He urged her to start running, but she did not start serious training until 2008. Initially racing over 800 and 1500 metres, she finished 7th in the 800 metres at the 2008 Kenyan Olympic trials, 12 seconds behind the winner Pamela Jelimo.^{[2] [3]}

Chemos converted to steeplechase running in March 2009, after being introduced to the discipline by Richard Mateelong, the Olympic steeplechase medalist posted at KPC. She won her debut race, at the Athletics Kenya meeting in Kakamega, timing 9:54.4, and soon improved her PB to 9:22.33 at the KBC Night of Athletics meeting in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium.^[2] Competing in the 2009 World Championships, she won a bronze medal in a personal best 9:08.57, behind Marta Domínguez and Yuliya Zarudneva.^[4]

In 2010, Chemos won gold medals in the 3000 metre steeplechase at the African Championships and the Commonwealth Games, heading a Kenyan clean sweep of the medals in the latter. She also took Diamond League victories in Oslo, Rome, Eugene and London, en route to capturing the overall Diamond League title in the steeplechase.^{[5] [6]}

As a result of her successes during the 2010 season, Chemos was one of five females shortlisted for the IAAF World Athlete of the Year award, won by high jumper Blanka Vlašić.^[7]

Chemos entered the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea as favourite for the 3000 metres steeplechase, having won all five of the Diamond League races in which she had competed prior to the championship. However, she was unable to improve upon her bronze medal of two years previous, finishing in third place, over 10 seconds behind race winner Yuliya Zaripova. Chemos subsequently lost again to Zaripova at the final Diamond League meeting of the season - the Memorial Van Damme in Brussels - but the Kenyan had already established an unbeatable lead in the Diamond Race standings and thus retained her title. ^[8][9][10]

Her husband Alex Sang is a middle-distance runner. They have a four-year old daughter as of 2010 ^[11]

Like Milcah, running siblings Linet Masai and Moses Masai are from Bugaa village.^[1]

Achievements

Year	Tournament	Venue	Result	Extra
2009	World Championships	Berlin, Germany	3rd	3000 m steeplechase
	World Athletics Final	Thessaloniki, Greece	2nd	3000 m steeplechase
2010	African Championships	Nairobi, Kenya	1st	3000 m steeplechase
	Continental Cup	Split, Croatia	2nd	3000 m steeplechase
	Commonwealth Games	New Delhi, India	1st	3000 m steeplechase
2011	World Championships	Daegu, South Korea	3rd	3000 m steeplechase

Personal bests

Event	Time (m:s)	Venue	Date
1500 metres	4:12.30	Nairobi, Kenya	6 June 2009
3000 metres	8:43.92	Zagreb, Croatia	31 August 2009
3000 metres steeplechase	9:08.57	Berlin, Germany	17 August 2009

• All information taken from IAAF profile.

References

• IAAF profile for Milcah Chemos Cheywa

1. ^ ^{a b} Daily Nation, August 25, 2009: Milcah, fresh from New KCC
2. ^ ^{a b} The Standard, August 13, 2009: Introducing Milka
3. ^ Athletics Kenya: 2008 Olympic trials results
4. ^ IAAF: 2009 World Championships, 3000 metres steeplechase women final
5. ^ James Wokabi and Mutwiri Mutuota (2010-09-01). Focus on Athletes – Milcah Chemos. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-11-11.
6. ^ Mike Rowbottom (2010-10-10). Two more gold for Kenya, Adams dominates Shot Put. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-11-11.
7. ^ IAAF (2010-11-10). 2010 Athletes of the Year - and the female finalists are.... Retrieved on 2011-11-11.
8. ^ Bob Ramsak (2011-08-30). Daegu 2011 – Expected Highlights - Day Four, 30 August.
9. ^ Bob Ramsak (2011-08-30). Daegu 2011 - Day 4 SUMMARY - 30 August.
10. ^ Mike Rowbottom (2011-09-16). Blake upstages the world in Brussels.
11. ^ IAAF, June 9, 2010: Chemos eyeing African record in Rome, and 2011 World title – IAAF Diamond League

Persondata
Name	Chemos, Milcah
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	February 26, 1986
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death