Francis Kirwa

Francis Kirwa
Personal information
Full name Francis Chepsiror Kirwa
Nationality  Finland
Born (1974-11-28) 28 November 1974
Rift Valley Province, Kenya
Residence Lahti, Finland
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Weight 60 kg (132 lb)
Sport
Sport Athletics
Event(s) Marathon
Club Lahden Ahkera (FIN)
Coached by Timo Vuorimaa
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s) Marathon: 2:11:01 (2008)

Francis Chepsiror Kirwa (born November 28, 1974 in Rift Valley Province, Kenya) is a Finnish marathon runner of Kenyan origin.[1] In 2005, he adopted Finnish nationality in order to compete internationally in the marathon, and run for his home nation at the IAAF World Championships in Helsinki. He also set a personal best of 2:11:01 by winning the gold medal at the Maratona Sant’Antonio in Padua, Italy.[2]

Kirwa represented his adopted nation Finland at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where he competed for the men's marathon. He successfully finished the race in fourteenth place by twenty-two seconds behind Spain's José Manuel Martínez, outside his personal best time of 2:14:22.[3]

Kirwa currently resides in Lahti, since he left from Kenya in 2002. He also trains full-time for marathon and cross-country races at Lahden Ahkera, under his personal and head coach Timo Vuorimaa.

References

  1. ↑ "Francis Kirwa". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  2. ↑ Sampaolo, Diego (27 April 2008). "Battling hot conditions, Kirwa takes commanding victory at Padua Marathon". IAAF. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  3. ↑ "Men's Marathon". NBC Olympics. Retrieved 20 December 2012.

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, March 22, 2013. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.