Kenya's marathon great Mary Keitany announced her retirement from elite after a stellar career which saw her win the London Marathon on three occasions, as well as triumph at the 2009 World Half Marathon Championships.
A back injury also ruled her completely off, subsequently ending her career. “Every time I thought I had gotten over the injury and started training hard, it became a problem again,” Keitany said. “So now is the time to say goodbye - if only as an elite runner, to the sport I love so much.”
During her career, she won the New York marathon four times (2014, 2015, 2016, 2018) and the London marathon three times (2011, 2012 and 2017 when she set the marathon world record for a women only race with a time of 2:17:01). She won the 2009 world half-marathon title in Birmingham in 1:06:36 and improved her PB over the distance to 1:04:55 in Ras Al Khaimah in 2018. In her victory in 2017, she finished in 2 hours, 17 minutes, 1 second. Only two women; Brigid Kosgei and Paula Radcliffe, have run a marathon quicker and they were in races also containing male pacesetters.
Keitany first came to global attention in 2007, after local success in Kenya the previous year, with a series of good performances in European half marathons which then earned her a place in the Kenyan team at that year’s World Half Marathon Championships in Udine in Italy. A silver medal at the 2007 edition of that event, and team gold, was followed by more than a decade among the very best of the world’s female road runners, even with breaks in 2008 and 2013 to give birth to her children Jared and Samantha.
"As for the future, I haven’t fully decided on my plans but I’m looking forward to spending more time with my family," Keitany said.