Paul Malakwen Kosgei’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

Intro Kenyan distance runner
Is Runner 
Athlete 
Marathon runner 
From Kenya 
Type Sports 
Gender male
Birth 22 April 1978, Marakwet District
Age: 42 years
Star sign Taurus

Paul Malakwen Kosgei (born 22 April 1978 in Marakwet) is a Kenyan long-distance and marathon runner. He first came to prominence in athletics by taking the World Junior Record of 3000m steeple in 1997, and later with consecutive medals at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships from 1998 to 2000.
In 1999 he started his technical collaboration with the Italian Coach Renato Canova, that changed his event, looking at longer distances.
He made his debut at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in 2002 and became the surprise world champion for the event. Later that year he became the African champion on the track in the 10,000 metres and also won silver medals at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and 2002 IAAF World Cup.
He focused on entirely on road running after 2002 and he broke the world record for the 25 km distance, running 1:12:45 in May 2004. His personal best over the half marathon (59:07 minutes), with which he won the 2006 Berlin Half Marathon, ranks him within the top ten fastest ever over the distance. He began to focus on marathon running and won his first race at the Maratona d’Italia in 2010 with a course record and personal best time of 2:09.00.
From 2009 there was a passage of coach, from Renato Canova to Gabriele Nicola, who is a student of the former coach.

Career

Junior world record and first medals

Kosgei started his international career as a cross country runner and a steeplechaser. He came to prominence as a junior athlete in 1997 when he took the junior bronze medal at the 1997 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, and he also reached the 1997 IAAF Grand Prix Final for the 3000 metres steeplechase. He established his pedigree by setting a world junior record for the event.

He emerged as a senior the following year, taking the bronze in the short race at the 1998 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and helping Kenya to the team gold medal. He also led Kenya to a team victory at the IAAF World Road Relay Championships in Manaus in April. He was the fourth fastest athlete in the world that year in the steeplechase. He also began taking part in road running competitions and won the 10 km BOclassic race at the end of the year. He improved to the silver medal position at the 1999 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, finishing behind Paul Tergat to help Kenya to a consecutive team win. He represented his country on the track at the 1999 World Championships in Athletics in Seville, where he was seventh in the men’s steeplechase. He closed his track season with a fifth-place finish at the 1999 IAAF Grand Prix Final.

African and World Champion

From 2000 onwards he later began concentrating on long-distance running and dropped his steeplechase speciality. He set a 10 km best of 27:40 to win the Parelloop race in Brunssum that year. He also took a third consecutive cross country medal at the 2000 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, continuing the streak of Kenya team victories with his bronze medal performance. He took road circuit wins in Europe at the Giro Podistico Internazionale di Pettinengo, winning the 9.5 km race in 27:03, and also at the Giro al Sas 10K in Trento. He ran for Kenya in the long race at the 2001 IAAF World Cross Country Championships but could not match his short course form and finished in fifth place. The greater distances also did not bring him medals at the 2001 World Championships in Athletics as he finished seventh in the 10,000 metres final. He was the winner of the 2001 Giro Media Blenio 10K race in Dongio, recording a time of 28:13.4.

The 2002 marked a significant breakthrough for Kosgei in both track and road running. In May, he led the Kenyan team to victory at the 2002 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships with a time of 1:00:39. He edged out Jaouad Gharib to win the race on his first attempt at the half marathon distance. His first time success did not make him an immediate convert, however: “I have changed my focus from the steeplechase to the 10,000 metres … Maybe in two or three years I will start to think about running the marathon”. Kosgei became the Kenyan champion over 10,000 m that summer, and his next test came at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England. He was entered into the 10,000 m race and was second behind his Kenyan compatriot Wilberforce Talel – Kosgei’s finishing time of 27:45.46 was seven hundredths of a second behind Talel, who broke the Games record for the event.

He went unbeaten over the distance at the 2002 African Championships in Athletics the following month, beating John Cheruiyot Korir to the continental title. As African champion, he was selected to represent the continental at the 2002 IAAF World Cup. He took the 5000 metres silver medal behind the reigning European champion Alberto García (who was banned in 2003 for taking EPO). Among Kosgei’s other honours that year was a silver medal from the World Military Track and Field Championships.

Road running world record

After a relatively quiet 2003, Kosgei again came to the fore by setting a world record for the 25 km road distance, winning the BIG 25 Berlin race in 1:12:45 on 9 May 2004 (a record which stood until 2010 when it was beaten by Samuel Kosgei at the same race).

Kosgei won the Berlin Half Marathon in 2006, setting a half marathon personal best of 59:07 minutes as well as bettering his marks over 15 km and 20 km along the way. He competed at the 2007 Hamburg Marathon and Amsterdam Marathon, finishing 14th and 10th, respectively. Kosgei was one of four men under an hour at the Rotterdam Half Marathon in 2008 and his time of 59:37 brought him fourth place. He took three consecutive wins at the Amatrice-Configno road race from 2008 to 2010, building upon his first win in 2003. He posted a personal record of 2:09:12 hours at the 2008 Paris Marathon, where he finished eighth.

He scored his first victory over the marathon distance at the Maratona d’Italia in October 2010, where he set a new course record of 2:09:00.

Personal life

Kosgei is married and has two children. He is currently coached by Italian Gabriele Nicola.

International competitions

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
1997 World Cross Country Championships Turin, Italy 3rd Junior race
1998 World Cross Country Championships Marrakech, Morocco 3rd Short race
1st Team short race
1999 World Cross Country Championships Belfast, Northern Ireland 2nd Short race
1st Team short race
World Championships Seville, Spain 7th 3,000 m steeple
Grand Prix Final Munich, Germany 5th 3,000 m steeple
2000 World Cross Country Championships Vilamoura, Portugal 3rd Short race
1st Team short race
2001 World Cross Country Championships Ostend, Belgium 5th Long race
1st Team race
World Championships Edmonton, Canada 7th 10,000 m
2002 World Half Marathon Championships Brussels, Belgium 1st Half marathon
African Championships Tunis, Tunisia 1st 10,000 m
Commonwealth Games Manchester, England 2nd 10,000 m
IAAF World Cup Madrid, Spain 2nd 5,000 m
You May Also Like

Jon Hamm’s net worth, biography, fact, career, awards and life story

Jon Hamm Net Worth and Salary: Jon Hamm is an American television and film actor who has a net worth of $40 million. Jon Hamm is probably best known for playing the role of Don Draper in AMC’s hit series Mad Men. Outside of Mad Men, Hamm has appeared in a range of television and film roles. He is also an accomplished voice actor. Early Life: Jonathan Daniel Hamm was born on March 10th of 1971 in St. Louis, Missouri. When Jon Hamm was just two years old, his parents divorced. Jon Hamm lived with his mother until she passed away when he was only ten. Following this tragedy, Jon Hamm moved to Normandy, Missouri to live with his father and his grandmother. Jan Hamm became involved in acting as early as the first grade, although by high school he still viewed it as a pastime rather than a legitimate future career path. During this time, Hamm became a member of the football, baseball, and swim teams. Not long after Jon Hamm graduated from high school, his father passed away. Jon Hamm attended the University of Texas and faced criminal charges after a hazing incident in a fraternity. Hamm then transferred to the University of Missouri. During his time at this institution, he joined a theater company and booked roles in plays such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Assassins. Career: Jon Hamm graduated from the University of Missouri in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and started teaching acting at his old high school. After two years, he decided that he wanted a more substantial career and relocated to Los Angeles in an effort to become a professional actor. Jon Hamm did not have an easy start in Los Angeles. He drove to the city with just $150 and a car to his name. After moving in with a house filled with other aspiring actors, Hamm worked as a waiter while auditioning for various roles. After three years, he had failed to book a single role and was released by his agency. He continued to work as a waiter, and at a certain point he set a new goal: become an established actor by the age of 30 or quit and go home. Not long after making this promise to himself, Jon Hamm started booking roles. In the year 2000, Hamm appeared in NBC’s Providence in a guest appearance that grew into a 19-episode recurring role. This led to his first film role in Space Cowboys. By 2001, Hamm was booking major roles in films such as Kissing Jessica Stein and We Were Soldiers. During this period, he continued to appear in television series such as The Division, CSI: Miami, Numb3rs, and The Sarah Silverman Program. While Jon Hamm was an established actor by this point, his true breakthrough came in 2007 when he was cast as Don Draper in Mad Men. Hamm did not expect to land the role, as there were 80 other candidates who auditioned for the part – many of whom were more famous than him. When NBC finally settled on Jon Hamm for the role after numerous auditions, he quickly became an international star. In Mad Men, Jon Hamm plays an advertising executive during the 1960s. Hamm based his character on memories of his father. Like Don Draper, Hamm’s father was also an influential man with a secretive past. Mad Men quickly became a very popular show and debuted with an audience of 1.7 million. Jon Hamm won considerable praise from critics and received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in 2008. Around the time Mad Men concluded in 2015, Jon Hamm finally won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series after being nominated for the award 12 times during the series’ run. While Mad Men was still airing, Jon Hamm kept busy with various film roles. In 2008, he starred in The Day the Earth Stood Still. Although the film received mixed reviews, it earned an impressive $230 million worldwide. Jon Hamm booked a role as a leading man for the first time in 2009 with the film Stolen. In 2009, he landed a voice acting gig in Shrek Forever After before following up with a role in The Town. In 2011, he appeared in Sucker Punch, Bridesmaids, and Friends with Kids. In 2014, Jon Hamm played a sports agent in the film Million Dollar Arm. In 2015, Jon Hamm showed off his voice acting skills again in Minions, playing Herb Overkill. The movie was a massive box office hit with earnings of over $1 billion. Next year, he starred in Keeping Up With the Joneses. Another notable role was in 2017’s Baby Driver. Over the course of Hamm’s career, he has also appeared in TV series such as Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock, A Young Doctor’s Notebook, Black Mirror, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. In 2017, he joined the cast of the series Good Omens as the Archangel Gabriel. Personal Life: Jon Hamm began an 18-year relationship with actress and screenwriter Jennifer Westfeldt in 1997, and they broke up in 2015. In Mad Men, the character of Don Draper smokes constantly. Jon Hamm smoked herbal cigarettes in these scenes, as he had quit smoking previously at the age of 24. In 2015, Hamm received treatment for alcoholism. Real Estate: In 2013, Jon Hamm and Jennifer Westfeldt purchased a 1,000 square foot penthouse in the Upper West Side of Manhattan for $2.45 million. After the couple split up, the penthouse went through extensive renovations before being rented out for almost $15,000 per month in 2017. In 2017, Hamm also spent $3.375 on an impressive four-bedroom house in Los Feliz, Los Angeles. Salary: Jon Hamm earned a considerable salary through Mad Men. Although his salary gradually increased throughout the series, he was earning a peak amount of $275,000 per episode at one point. That’s around $4 million for a single season. Mercedes Endorsement Earnings: He has done voice over work for Mercedes Benz commercials since 2010. How much does Jon Hamm earn for his Mercedes commercials? Typically a high-profile actor like Hamm does not earn a salary per commercial with a brand like Mercedes. He will sign a long-term contract that covers a set number of commercials per year. Based on comparable actor’s known endorsement contracts, Hamm is likely operating under a 5-year $15-25 million deal to work with Mercedes. That’s $3-5 million per year if you want to think of it that way. But the money is likely paid upfront. Hamm has also done endorsements for H&R Block and American Airlines.
Read More