NYRR Media Center

Brigid Kosgei is the former world-record holder in the marathon, and has won an Olympic silver medal and five Abbott World Marathon Majors races; she is now set to make her TCS New York City Marathon debut.

In 2019, Kosgei broke Paula Radcliffe’s 16-year-old world record by 81 seconds, running 2:14:04 to win the Chicago Marathon. It was her second Chicago Marathon victory, as she also won in 2018.

Kosgei won back-to-back London Marathons in 2019 and 2020, and the Tokyo Marathon in 2022. Her first London Marathon victory at age 25 made her the youngest woman ever to win the race. In 2021, she took the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics, and the following year finished third at the Tokyo Marathon in the event’s third-fastest time ever.

Kosgei grew up as one of seven children raised by a single mother in the Rift Valley region of Kenya. Like other Kenyan athletes, she discovered her running talent when having to jog to and from school each day. At 17, she began training with her now-husband, Matthew Mitei, and went on to finish in the top two in eight of the first nine marathons that she ran. The couple are now parents to twins, Faith and Brian, and Kosgei has used her winnings to purchase land and home for her mother.