CHELIMO Paul

General
FATHERHOOD
He says the birth of his daughter in 2018 has changed his approach to competition and training, and that it resulted in an unexpected injury. "Over the past few months [early 2019] I developed a hip problem, not from running, but from holding the baby. She wouldn't sleep by herself, she had to be in my arms, so I always held her and rocked her on my right side. Doing that all day, every day, soon caused me to pick up an injury. It's the reason this year [mid-2019], at a time when I'm usually in insane shape, I'm still playing catch-up. She's the reason why I wake up everyday and the reason why I work so hard, more than I used to before. It's changed how I train and how I think, now I train more responsibly [because] I have to take care of my daughter. It's a good feeling. If I don't get good sleep at night, I try to take a long nap during the day to compensate. Sleep to a runner is the most important thing. When I was in Kenya, people said that when you have a baby, that's the year that you run really fast." (podiumrunner.com, 22 May 2019; spikes.worldathletics.org, 05 Jul 2019; podiumrunner.com, 22 May 2019)

FROM KENYA TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
He was a Kenyan citizen while competing for Shorter University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in the United States of America. He gained US citizenship after he enlisted in the US Army and served as a water treatment specialist from 2014-2018. He competed as part of the US Army's World Class Athlete Program. "I could have gone to any other country and been rich, but I love America. When I put on that [army] uniform, I'm ready to die for this country. Many people here are not ready to do that. I really loved the army, I wish I could stay but it's a lot of distractions just to train and do the necessary requirements [of service]. When presented with the opportunity to continue competing at the highest level and have the opportunity to represent the same country that offered me an education, it was all of my dreams coming true. The next five years [2019-2024] are really, really important." (trackandfieldnews.com, 23 Nov 2018; paulchelimo.com, 03 Nov 2018; deadspin.com, 07 Sep 2017; theundefeated.com, 17 Aug 2017; worldathletics.org, 20 Nov 2019)

FUTURE IN MARATHON
Speaking in early 2019, he said in future he plans to turn his focus to competing in the marathon. He ran his first half marathon at the New York City Half in March 2018 and finished third. "I want to do another half marathon so bad. I'm putting that in my plans and maybe in the near future, I'll look for a fast course and maybe go for the American record. One thing I know is, the marathon is where my future is." (podiumrunner.com, 22 May 2019)

SUB-TWO HOUR MARATHON PACEMAKER
In 2019 he was part of the pacemaking team when Kenyan athlete Eliud Kipchoge ran the first ever sub-two hour marathon in Vienna, Austria. However, the result did not count as an official record because it was not run under race conditions. "As a youngster growing up in Iten in Kenya, one of my favourite memories was watching Eliud Kipchoge beat Kenenisa Bekele and Hicham El Guerrouj to the world 5000m title at the 2003 World Championships. Since his victory in Paris, I have continued to follow Kipchoge's career closely. To have witnessed him develop into such a dominant marathon runner has been insane. He is a very special athlete. With this in mind, it is very exciting for me to be involved as a pacemaker. It is such a unique project and is something that will probably never happen again." (ineos159challenge.com, 12 Oct 2019; ineos159challenge.com, 11 Oct 2019)