Lonah Chemtai Salpeter

Running career She began running in a local park in Herzliya as a hobby in 2010. She does not listen to music as she runs, saying "I always like to listen to my heart beating. Even though I'm running 42 kilometers, I run without music." She said: "People tell me, ‘You inspire us, you make us proud,’ so that really motivates me a lot. I want to inspire the younger generation in Israel."

Salpeter then competed for Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the marathon. She left the race at the 35th kilometer, with sharp pain in her chest.

In May 2017 she won the Berlin BIG 25 km race in Germany, in 1:28:48.

In June 2018, she won the Valencia 15 km, in Valencia, Spain, with a time of 47:38, a personal best and a new Israeli record.

In July 2018, Salpeter won the 1500 m at the Israeli National Championships, with a time of 4:11.69, a personal best. As she and the other lead runners crossed the line, with her in close second place, she pulled up one lap early by mistake and veered off course 400 metres early, thinking she had just crossed the finish line. However, as race officials rang the bell indicating the start of the final lap, Salpeter realized her error, and sprinted after the leader. After finishing she collapsed on the grass, crying, and in her post-race interview only managed to say: "What a fool I am." It was the first time that she ran the distance. She broke the prior course record by four minutes, and was six minutes ahead of the second-place finisher Caroline Chepkwony. She ran a negative split, running the first half of the race in 1:12:38, and the second half in 1:11:39. She was two seconds off the course record.

In April 2019, she came in second in the Prague Half Marathon in Prague, the Czech Republic, with a time of 1:06:09, a personal best. She clocked the 24th-best time for a woman in that distance in history, the third-best European time ever, and a new Israeli national record. She moved to third on the European all-time list in the marathon, behind world record-holder Paula Radcliffe (2:15:25) and Irina Mikitenko (2:19:19).

In July 2019, she won a silver medal in the 2019 European 10,000 m Cup in London, with an Israeli national record of 31:15.78, seven seconds behind Steph Twell.

In August 2019 Salpeter won a gold medal in the 2019 European Athletics Team Championships Second League 5,000 metre race, in Varaždin, Croatia, in a time of 15:44.38.

On 28 September 2019, Salpeter ran in the women's marathon at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar. She was forced to leave the race after 32 kilometers (20 miles) while she was in fifth place and 11 seconds behind the lead runner, as temperatures rose to 91 °F (32.7 °C), along with humidity of 73% that made it feel like 105 °F (40 °C).

In December 2019 she won the Israeli Half Marathon Championships in Beit She'an, with a time of 1:10:05. She broke away from the women's field at the 30-kilometer mark, and broke the course record by over two minutes. She ran the sixth-fastest women's marathon in the world of all time.

In July 2020, she won the 800 metre Israeli Championship in Tel Aviv with a time of 2:06.63, a personal best, and the 1,500 metre Israeli Championship with a time of 4:17.96. She ran negative splits, running 71:31 in the first half, and 71:06 in the second half.

On 6 August 2021, after running in the leading pack runners for most of the race, Salpeter came in 66th in the women's marathon at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games with a time of 2:48:31. She was in the front pack of runners with four kilometers (2.5 miles) to go, in a battle for the bronze medal with Molly Seidel, when she had to pause due to severe pain from intense menstrual cramps. She only started running again 20 minutes later, finished 21 minutes behind the winner Peres Jepchirchir, and said: "I will never give up, so I need to cross the finish line. I tried my best." Shortly after the marathon ended, she said: "I was really proud to represent Israel, I was going today to fight for any medal. I apologize that I didn't win," before breaking into tears and walking away from the interview. When asked about the problem, she looked at the only female reporter in the crowd and said, “You understand.”

In April 2022, she won the Israeli 10,000m Championships in Tel Aviv, with a time of 31:49.75. She accepted the medal while wearing the Israeli flag draped across her back, and said: "I'm so proud to represent my country".

In November 2022, Salpeter won the silver medal at the 2022 New York City Marathon, with a time of 2:23:30, only seven seconds behind the winner Sharon Lokedi. On an unseasonably warm and humid day for New York City, she had been in the lead for most of the last few miles, and was only passed by Lokedi in the final mile.

In March 2023 she won the silver medal in the Roma-Ostia Half Marathon, in Rome, Italy, in 1:06:56, 35 seconds behind the gold medal winner. It was the first time she had run the Boston Marathon.

2024; Paris Olympics Salpeter was chosen to be Israel's female flag-bearer at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games on 26 July 2024.

Salpeter represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the Women's marathon. After leading at the halfway mark, she finished 8th with a time of 2:26:08, three minutes and 13 seconds behind gold medal winner Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands.

Achievements International competitions

Personal bests 3000 metres – 8:42.88 (Birmingham 2018) 5000 metres – 14:59.02 (London 2019) 10,000 metres – 30:46.37 (Munich 2022) One hour run – 18,571 metres (Brussels 2020) 10 km – 30:05 (Tilburg 2019) Half marathon – 1:06:09 (Prague 2019) Marathon – 2:17:45 (Tokyo 2020)