Ruth Chepng'etich now wants Olympics gold in Tokyo

Kenya's Ruth Chepng'etich celebrates after winning the women's Marathon at the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha on September 27, 2019. PHOTO | MUSTAFA ABUMUNES | AFP

What you need to know:

  • The diminutive 23-year-old athlete, who coasted to victory in women's marathon at the World Athletics Championships in a time of 2 hours, 32.43 minutes, said her next target is to win the Olympics marathon title.

Freshly-minted world marathon champion Ruth Chepng'etich has set her sights on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics title.

The diminutive 23-year-old athlete, who coasted to victory in women's marathon at the World Athletics Championships in a time of 2 hours, 32.43 minutes, said her next target is to win the Olympics marathon title.

"This victory is the biggest in my career. It was a surprise to me as I did not see it coming. My next target is to go to the Olympics in Japan and to win there," the pint-sized marathoner, who termed the marathon race a "battle in the desert", said shortly after the race.

The athlete, who won 2019 Dubai Marathon in a course record-breaking time of 2:17.04 - the third fastest time in the history of the 42km race, on Friday won the world title ahead of reigning champion, Kenyan-born Bahraini athlete Rose Chelimo (2:33.46) who came second and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Helalia Johannes from Namibia (2:34.15) who claimed bronze.

KIPLAGAT FINISHED FOURTH

Two-time world champion Edna Kiplagat's bid to win her third world title failed as she finished fourth in 2:35.36. The other Kenyan in the race Vissiline Jepkesho timed 2:46.38 to finish 15th.

A small but vocal crowd of Kenyan fans who either travelled to Qatar for the championship, or are based in the oil-rich Gulf nation, gave Kenyan marathoners a reason to fight on in the race where some athletes had to be to be stretchered off while some were taken away in an ambulance with the sweltering heat in the Qatari capital taking it's toll.

"I was not expecting to be a medallist in such tough conditions," Chelimo, who won the title two years ago in London, said.

"Here was much hotter than Jakarta (where she won the Asian Games title last year)," the Kenyan-born Bahraini added.

The vocal fans, armed with a giant Kenyan flag and stationed along the route of the marathon, kept cheering Kenyan athletes to the end.

With defending champion Chelimo marginally in the lead at the 35th kilometre mark and Chepng'etich lurking behind, the pint-sized Dubai Marathon champion attacked, literally chasing the Bahraini runner before overtaking her and going for glory herself.

"We had been running together in the leading pack, then I kicked in the 35th kilometre and there was no looking back," Chepng'etich said.

She said she was surprised to have won the world title in only the third race in her career.

"I was pleasantly surprised to have won the marathon race. I kept pushing the pace till the 30th kilometre. At the 35th kilometre mark, it occurred to me that I actually stood a good chance of winning the race, so I took my chance and won."

The cruel conditions saw all three of the Ethiopians failing to make it past the halfway mark with 28 athletes failing to finish the race out of the 68 runners who started the race.