BY KENYA DEFENCE FORCES
Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) General Robert Kibochi, on Tuesday 4th October 2022, promoted Corporal Joyciline Jepkosgei to Sergeant (Sgt) at the Defence Headquarters in Nairobi following her Silver medal win at the 2022 London Marathon.
In his remarks, before the investiture of ranks, the CDF congratulated Sgt Jepkosgei for her good work in representing the Country in major races and for improving on her timings which have seen her break multiple world records.
“We are very grateful for your continuous hard work and for representing Kenya and KDF well. We wish you the best as competing at such high levels requires a lot of hard work and determination. I am confident that you will continue doing better since you are still young,” said General Kibochi.
Sergeant Jepkosgey scooped the silver medal with a time of 2.18.07 and was thankful to the CDF for the promotion citing it as, “an honor.”
She also appreciated how the Kenya Defence Forces takes care of its athletes more so with special regard to physiotherapy.
Investiture of the rank of Sergeant to Jepkosgey was witnessed by the Commander Kenya Army Lieutenant General Peter Njiru, Assistant Chief of Defence Forces in charge of Personnel and Logistics Major General Muthuri Kiugu, Colonel Physical Readiness and Sports Defence Headquarters Colonel Benjamin Kiprop and the Defence Forces Sergeant Major WOI Elijah Koranga.
Sergeant Jepkosgei’s major breakthrough took place in 2019 when she won both the half marathon and marathon in New York City in a time of 1:10:07 and 2:22:38 respectively.
Two years later, she followed the win with another gold medal at the 2021 London Marathon, improving on her earlier time in New York with five minutes less registering a time of 2:17:43.
At the Prague Half Marathon in 2017, Sergeant Jepkosgei represented Kenya and became the first woman to break 65 minutes for the half marathon with her 64:52 world record 13.1-mile.
In 2016, she won bronze medal in the African Championships in Durban South Africa and a silver medal in the World Half Marathon Championships in Valencia, Spain.