Solomon Kirwa Yego

Solomon Kirwa Yego (born 1987) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes mainly in road running competitions. His half marathon best of 58:44 minutes makes him the ninth fastest man ever for the distance. Yego has won the Roma-Ostia Half Marathon and the Udine Half Marathon. He represented Kenya at the 2014 African Cross Country Championships and won a team gold medal.

Career Yego began competing in half marathons in Italy in 2010, taking top three finishes at a variety of lower level races. He won the Collemar and Castellana Marathons in 2011, setting a best of 2:17:47 hours at the latter. He demonstrated his move into world class distance running in the 2012 season with a run of 61:49 minutes to win the Ferrara Half Marathon. Later in the year he won the Europa Half Marathon then won the Borghi and Cremona Half Marathon, improving his time to 61:34 minutes in the process. He began to near the global top 100 runners that season.

He missed most of the 2013 season, but managed a runner-up finish at the high level Route du Vin Half Marathon. He took part in French road races that year, coming in the top five at the Le Lion Half Marathon and the Marseille-Cassis Classique Internationale. He broke into the world's best ever at the 2016 Roma-Ostia Half Marathon, recording a time of 58:44 minutes to become the third fastest man for the half marathon, with only world record holder Zersenay Tadese and former Olympic champion Samuel Wanjiru having run faster. The run bettered former world champion Wilson Kiprop's course record by over half a minute.

International competitions

Circuit wins Roma-Ostia Half Marathon: 2016 Udine Half Marathon: 2015 Lago Maggiore Half Marathon: 2015 Cremona Half Marathon: 2012, 2015

Personal bests 5000 metres – 14:14.54 min (2012) 10,000 metres – 28:23.0 min (2015) 10K run – 29:06 min (2015) Half marathon – 58:44 min (2016) Marathon – 2:08:31 (2016) Info from All-Athletics