Lornah Kiplagat receives the AIMS/ASICS WORLD ATHLETE OF THE YEAR AWARD AND THE AIMS/CITIZEN WORLD’S FASTEST TIME AWARD FOR THE HALF MARATHON

The outstanding athlete Lornah Kiplagat on Saturday 5th July 2008 at the Cavendish Hotel in London, England was presented with the AIMS/ASICS Golden Shoe award, announcing her as the World Athlete of the Year, a world accolade from the 248 races in over 81 countries in membership of the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS).

Lornah also received the AIMS/Citizen World’s Fastest Time award to mark her half marathon performance of 1:06:25 in Udine, Italy, last year on 14th October 2007 as the World Record officially recognised by the IAAF & AIMS.
 
Lornah received the top awards in world road racing the AIMS/ASICS World Athlete of the Year Award for the second year running and the AIMS/Citizen World’s Fastest Time Award from AIMS General Secretary Hugh Jones, prior to the British London 10K on Sunday 6th July.
 
A dominant figure on the road, the track and the turf, Lornah. has scored 5 victories in her 17 marathons to date and has 11 performances faster than 2:30:00.
 
2007 Performances
2:24:26 Marathon London 22nd April 2007
1:06:25 Half Marathon Udine 14th October 2007
1:02:57 20km Udine 14th October 2007
 
2007 World’s Fastest Time Performance
1:06:25 IAAF World Road Running Championships Half Marathon, Udine, 14th Oct 2007
 
The AIMS/ASICS World Athlete of the Year Awards were founded in 1992 and are decided each year by way of nominations made by the member races of the world body The Association of International Marathons & Distance Races (AIMS). The membership totals some 248 races in over 81 countries covering every continent of the world.
 
Lornah Kiplagat (NED) also won the award in 2006 and previous winners of the AIMS/ASICS World Athlete of the Year Award include Paula Radcliffe (England) 3 times, Mizuki Noguchi (Japan), Catherine Ndereba (Kenya), Naoko Takahashi (Japan), Tegla Loroupe (Kenya) 4 times, Uta Pippig (Germany) 2 times, Liz McColgan (Scotland)
 
World President of AIMS Hiroaki Chosa comments “It is with pleasure we recognise today the considerable achievements of Lornah Kiplagat. Lornah is one of the finest athletes the world has ever seen. Lornah is now among the all time great athletes and her achievements at the highest level are recognised globally today.”
 
Lornah Kiplagat commented “I very much appreciate these awards. It is an honour to receive such recognition. It means a lot that so many people at the top of world athletics voted for me. I would just like to say thank you to everyone involved. This is really wonderful. I want to also say a special thank you to AIMS, ASICS and  Citizen "