Before the emergence of David Rudisha, Wilson Kipketer was the undisputed 800m king and Pulse Sports details everything you need to know about the Kenyan-born Danish athlete.
Wilson Kipketer is one of the best athletics talents that Kenya produced but never benefited from.
Despite being born in Kenya, Wilson Kipketer opted to represent Denmark at a young age, robbing his country of birth an athlete who later turned out to be a world beater that broke records for fun.
Before the emergence of David Rudisha, Kipketer had broken numerous 800m world records, won three world titles as well as Olympics medals for his adopted country Denmark.
Wilson Kipketer: Citizenship Switch, Career, World Records, Wife, Height & Weight
Wilson Kipketer’s citizenship switch
Wilson Kipketer won three world 800m titles for his adopted country Denmark. Photo/Imago
Wilson Kipketer was born on December 12, 1972 in Kapchemoiywo, Nandi County in Kenya’s Rift Valley.
He attended the famous Catholic St Patrick’s High School in Iten, Elgeyo Marakwet County, famous for nurturing young runners, and worked under the school’s former coach and headteacher Brother Colm O’Connell.
In 1990, Kipketer travelled to Denmark as a foreign exchange student, studying electronic engineering and he never came back.
He liked Denmark so much that he applied for Danish citizenship and that is how Kenya lost out.
Wilson Kipketer’s Career
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Wilson Kipketer won three world 800m gold medals for his adopted country Denmark. Photo/Imago
After switching nationalities, Wilson Kipketer started representing his adopted nation Denmark in 1994 aged just 16 when he won 16 of his 18 races in 800m and by the end of the year, he was ranked top in the world.
The following year, he won 10 of his 12 races, and ran under 1:43 twice before going on to win his first world title at the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden.
However, the following year, when he remained undefeated, Kipketer was locked out of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics since he was still not a full Danish citizen, but he put that disappointment behind.
He went on to win the World Indoor title in 1997, breaking the world record, timing 1:42.67, having clocked 1:43.96 in the heats which had lowered Paul Ereng’s world record of 1:44.84.
In July that year, he equaled Sebastian Coe’s world record of 1:41.73 in Stockholm, Sweden and went on to break the record twice that year, the first time being in Zurich, Switzerland at the Weltklasse Zurich when he ran 1:41.24.
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Wilson Kipketer found the going tough at Athens 2004 Olympics where he won bronze. Photo/Imago
Eleven days later, Wilson Kipketer improved the world record to 1:41.11 at the Grand Prix meet in Cologne, Germany before defending his world title a few days later in Athens, Greece.
Wilson Kipketer would finish second at the 1999 World Indoor Championships but won his third world title in Seville, Spain that year and just like in 1997, he was undefeated in 1999, winning all 10 outdoor races and finishing the year ranked number one in 800m.
By the year 2000, his powers started to wane somewhat and although he featured in his first Olympics, the Sydney Games where he won silver in 800m, before winning the European Championships in 2002 but could only manage fourth at the 2003 World Championships after which he settled for bronze at the 2004 Athens Olympics despite being in the lead with 80m left.
Wilson Kipketer’s records
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Wilson Kipketer broke 800m records for fun. Photo/Imago
Wilson Kipketer holds the joint second fastest time in 800m of 1:41.11, alongside Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi, having set the mark at a Grand Prix meet in Cologne, Germany in 1997.
That was a world record, which stood for 13 years, before David Rudisha broke it, timing 1:41.09 at the 2012 London Olympics which stands to date.
Kipketer, who ended his career in 2005, had a remarkable record of fast 800m times as apart from 2001, he ran 1:43 or better every year from 1994 to 2004. His 10 years of sub-1:44 800m times remains unmatched.
Besides his 800m World Indoor record of 1:42.67 set in 1997, he also set the 1,000m Indoor world record of 2:14.96 in 2000.
Who is Wilson Kipketer’s wife?
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Wilson Kipketer now lives in Monaco with his wife Pernille. Photo/Imago
Wilson Kipketer married his Danish girlfriend Pernille, a long-distance athlete, in 2000, and the couple, who reside in Monaco, have a son born in 2004.
Wilson Kipketer’s weight & height
Wilson Kipketer is 1.82m tall (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in) and weighs 63 kg.
