Centro de medios de NYRR

Lonah Chemtai Salpeter, a Kenyan-born runner who competes for Israel, was the runner-up in her TCS New York City Marathon debut last year in 2:23:30. She has represented Israel in the marathon at both the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

In March 2020, Salpeter won the Tokyo Marathon in 2:17:45, setting the Israeli record, and is now second-fastest European women’s marathoner of all-time behind Paula Radcliffe. Last year, she won bronze at the World Athletics Championships Marathon in Eugene, Ore., and followed that up with a bronze medal in the European Athletics Championships 10,000 meters 28 days later in an Israeli record time of 30:46.37. She also owns a gold medal in the 10,000 meters from the 2018 European Championships.

Earlier this year, she claimed her third podium finish at an Abbott World Marathon Majors race, placing third in Boston.

Salpeter was raised in Kenya as a member of the Kalenjin tribe, growing up in a small village with no electricity or running water. She moved to Israel in 2008 to work as a nanny for the children of Kenya’s Ambassador to Israel. Running became an activity to get her out of the house after her workday was done, and that’s where she met her current coach and husband, Dan Salpeter, in 2011. The family now reside on a kibbutz in northern Israel and have a son, Roy, who was born in 2014. Salpeter became an Israeli citizen in March 2016, a few days before the cutoff to qualify for the Rio Olympics.