Richard Limo

Richard Kipkemei Limo (born November 18, 1980) is a Kenyan athlete. He specializes in long distance track events. He won the 5000 metres gold medal at the 2001 World Championships in Athletics.

He was born in 1980 in Cheptigit village, Uasin Gishu District. After primary school he went to polytechnic and received a grade in electrical wiring in 1996. He did not start running until 1997 when he joined a training camp located near his home. The next year he won silver medal at the junior race of World Cross Country Championships. The same year he broke the world junior record at 3000 metres, by running in 7:36.76 minutes, but missed the World Junior Championships. In 2001 he became world champion and was world's best performer of the year at 5000 metres with his time 12:56.72, which remains his personal record. Since 2004 he has not been much in the limelight, but has since switched to marathon racing. He was the runner-up in the 2007 Amsterdam Marathon, his debut where he consequently set a new personal best (2:06:45) [The Standard, October 23, 2007: [http://eastandard.net/news/?id=1143976368&cid=2 Mutai wins as Limo debuts in marathon] ] .

He is married to Rose Tarus with two children, born in 2000 and 2002. He is 1.67 m tall and has a mass of 52 kg. He is not related to Benjamin Limo or Felix Limo, both also Kenyan runners [IAAF, August 25, 2000: [http://www2.iaaf.org/News/Articles/getnews.asp?Event=GLE00&Code=2413 Not even the elements can stop Jones ] ] .

Achievements

Personal bests

*1500 metres - 3:37.59 min (1999)
*3000 metres - 7:32.23 min (2001)
*5000 metres - 12:56.72 min (2001)
*10,000 metres - 26:50.20 min (2002)
*3000 metres steeplechase - 8:20.67 min (1998)
*Marathon - 2:06.43 (2007, net time; gross time: 2:06.45)

References

External links

*iaaf name|id=132787|name=Richard Limo
* [http://www.runningtimes.com/rt/articles/print.asp?id=5203 Richard Limo: Young Kenyan on Top of the World]
* [http://www.iaaf.org/news/newsId=23027,printer.html Focus on Africans]