Pius Maiyo Kirop (born 8 January 1990) is a Kenyan road runner. He won a team gold medal at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in 2012.
Kirop began competing on the European professional circuit in 2009, taking a runner-up spot at the Bucharest Half Marathon. He returned the following year to win that race and set a personal best of 60:39 minutes in fourth at the Route du Vin Half Marathon. His marathon debut in Frankfurt ended in a failure to finish. Highlights of his 2011 season included fourth-place finishes at the Göteborgsvarvet and Route du Vin race, but another marathon outing in Köln Marathon saw him fail to finish again.Pius Maiyo Kirop. Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved on 2016-03-30.
In 2012 he set a personal best of 59:25 minutes at the Berlin Half Marathon and won the Tilburg Ten Miles. He was selected for Kenya for the 2012 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships.Pius Maiyo Kirop. All-Athletics. Retrieved on 2016-03-30. Despite being one of the lesser runners on the circuit, he gave a strong performance there, taking fourth place in 61:11 minutes and helping John Nzau Mwangangi and Stephen Kosgei Kibet to the team gold medals.Pius Maiyo Kirop. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-03-30.
Kirop failed to make a breakthrough after his 2012 season – he ran in higher calibre races, but struggled to get near the top of the fields. He began marathon running in 2015 and set a best of 2:09:58 hours for ninth at the Paris Marathon.
International competitions 2012World Half Marathon ChampionshipsKavarna, Bulgaria4thHalf marathon1:01:111stTeam3:03:52
Circuit wins Tilburg Ten Miles: 2012 Bucharest Half Marathon: 2010
References