Elijah Kiptarbei Lagat, the 2000 Boston Marathon champion and one of Kenya’s most recognizable marathoners of the late 1990s, has died at the age of 60.
Family members confirmed Lagat passed away on Monday night at Eldoret Hospital in Uasin Gishu County after a short illness. His brother, Abraham Lagat, said he had been admitted to the ICU with high blood pressure, but appeared to be improving before his sudden death.
Born in 1966 in Nandi County, Lagat took an unusual path to elite distance running. He didn’t start training seriously until his late 20s, initially to lose weight, but within a few years he had become one of Kenya’s top marathoners. His debut came at the 1993 Mombasa Marathon, where he finished second in 2:17:14, an early sign of talent that would soon take him to the global stage.
In 1997, Lagat broke through internationally by winning the Berlin Marathon in 2:07:41, a time that placed him among the world’s fastest marathoners that year. He followed up with another victory at the 1998 Prague Marathon, confirming his place in Kenya’s growing legacy of city marathon champions.
His greatest triumph came two years later in Boston. At the 104th Boston Marathon in April 2000, Lagat pulled away from Ethiopia’s Gezahegne Abera in the final stretch to win in 2:09:47. Kenya’s Moses Tanui finished third just seconds behind, marking another dominant showing for the nation’s runners on one of the sport’s biggest stages.
That victory earned Lagat a spot on Kenya’s Olympic team later that year, though he failed to finish the marathon at the Sydney Games. Even so, his performances between 1997 and 2000, including multiple sub-2:10 marathons, established him as one of the key figures in Kenya’s rise to global marathon dominance.
After retiring from competition in the early 2000s, Lagat transitioned into public life, serving as a Member of Parliament for Emgwen and later Chesumei. Though politics occupied much of his later career, he remained closely associated with athletics and was remembered for mentoring younger runners from Nandi County.
News of his death prompted tributes from both sports and political circles. Nandi Governor Stephen Sang described him as “a great athlete whose dedication and humility inspired many.”
For many Kenyans, Lagat’s story remains one of transformation, a runner who started late, reached the pinnacle of world marathon running, and helped carry Kenya’s flag across finish lines from Berlin to Boston.
