World marathon champions Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia and Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya were tonight recognized as the male and female recipients of the 2019 ‘Best Marathon Runner’ award by the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS).
Their achievements were given global recognition in Athens, the birthplace of the marathon, at the seventh annual AIMS Best Marathon Runner (BMR) Gala.
Lelisa Desisa and Chepngetich were chosen by the AIMS athletes’ nomination committee as the outstanding candidates for the 2019 awards based upon their performances over the past 12 months.
Lelisa won the 2018 New York City Marathon before winning the marathon at the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 with a time of 2:10:40. “Thank you to AIMS, their members and partners for presenting me with this award,” he said. “This is a proud moment in my career.”
Chepngetich is also a world marathon champion, winning in Doha with a time of 2:32:43. In the past year she also added wins at the Istanbul Marathon, the Dubai Marathon (in 2:17:08, the second-fastest time of the year), the Istanbul Half Marathon, the Seiryu Half Marathon and the Media Marathon de Bogota.
“I am very happy to receive this award in Athens where the sport of marathon running was born,” she said. “It is a great honor to be recognized in this way.”
Lelisa added world marathon gold to the silver he won in Moscow six years ago clocking a season’s best of 2:10.40.