Awaiting U.S. Citizenship, Kenyan Elvin Kibet Wins Women’s 10,000 Meters

By Alex Castle 

Two weeks ago in Austin, Texas, distance runner Elvin Kibet put on her U.S. Army singlet for the first time and immediately began to cry.

“I just wanted to give back, and this is a really great way to give back,” Kibet said. “I just want to run with the U.S. Army around the world and around the U.S. I’m just really, really proud.”

She donned the same camouflaged singlet for Saturday’s Portland Track Festival, and Kibet had a wide smile on her face after winning the women’s high performance 10,000 meters at Lewis and Clark College’s Griswold Stadium in 32 minutes, 42.33 seconds. The Kenyan citizen, who is waiting to receive U.S. citizenship, finished 28 seconds ahead of second place.

With a slower pace than expected through the race’s first half, Kibet didn’t meet her goal of a 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials qualifying time, which is 31:25. Despite the sluggish start, Kibet stuck with to her usual strategy.

“I usually just think of the pace and the race with people,” she said. “Just keep in contact with everyone else.”

With separation building between the race’s top seven runners and the rest of the field, Kibet sat in the middle of the pack for the first 5,000 meters as lap by lap and one by one the race’s leaders were whittled down to just Kibet and Boulder Track Club’s Melissa Dock.

But as Kibet pushed the pace in the following laps, Dock didn’t have an answer as the U.S. Army runner cruised to an easy victory.

“I had heard her name and knew she was a good runner,” said Dock, who finished second at 33:10.24. “I didn’t know what her race plan was, so when she went by me I was like ‘OK, try to stick with her’ and then she was just gone.”

Usually keen on racing next to her opponents, Kibet spent much of the final 3,000 meters running by herself and had to figure out how to mentally close the race.

“Sometimes I have songs running through my head, or just think about the pace, or sometimes I don’t really think about anything,” Kibet said. “I’m just in the zone.”

A Kenyan citizen who graduated in 2015 from the University of Arizona, where she was a six-time All-American and school record holder in the 5,000 meters, Kibet ran for Sketchers as a member of Colorado Springs’ American Distance Project in the following years before joining the U.S. Army last October.

“When I moved to Colorado, most of the guys and my husband were in the Army,” she said. “I just figured why not?”

Kibet is married to 2016 Olympian Shadrack Kipchirchir, who enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2014 and raced in its World Class Athlete Program until recently. Now a member of the team while her husband runs for Nike, Kibet is adjusting to a more intense training regimen. She had regularly run 70 miles per week during her collegiate career, and now her coach, Sean Ryan, has her reaching upwards of 90 or 100 miles each week.

“I really like long distance,” Kibet said. “I used to do like 16-mile runs on my own, and I’m doing even more now and it’s really good for me.”

While Kibet continues her adjustment to the U.S. Army team, she is also in the process of the applying for full U.S. citizenship and is waiting to be interviewed to complete her application.

“I think it’s just the immigration process takes a while,” Kibet said. “I just hope I get in before the trials.”

Alex Castle

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *