Hellen Obiri has won almost everything in her running career. Everything, that is, except an Olympic gold medal.
The only woman to win indoor, outdoor and cross-country world titles, Obiri also has two Olympic silver medals over 5,000 meters and three major marathon victories – in Boston (twice) and New York.
But a gold medal at the Olympics has so far remained elusive. The decorated Kenyan runner hopes to change that in Paris over the coming days, entering the women’s marathon race as one of the favorites for the title.
“I’m going to work extra hard to make it happen, to make my dream come true,” she told CNN Sport on the eve of the Olympics.
This will be Obiri’s fourth Games, making her a veteran in the women’s marathon field. That experience should serve her well on what promises to be a challenging 26.2-mile course between Paris and Versailles, taking in 436 meters of ascent.
It will be the final event of this year’s Olympics, staged hours before the closing ceremony in the Stade de France. And for the first time ever, a mass marathon for the general public has been organized on Saturday night, in between the men’s and women’s races.
This is Obiri’s fifth marathon but arguably the one with the highest stakes. After a disappointing debut over the distance in New York, finishing sixth two years ago, she has established herself as the in-form women’s marathon runner in the world with her three subsequent victories in the US.
Her introduction to marathon running, it’s fair to say, has been a learning curve.
“When I go to the race, they [my coaches] told me that the marathon, it’s about being patient, waiting until the last minute,” said Obiri. “And being patient is what gave me the win in Boston and New York.
“That training you put into your mind and your legs, it’s going to give you confidence to win. And so for me, winning Boston and New York, it gives me a lot of motivation going to Paris.”
However, Obiri’s high confidence levels don’t preclude pre-race nerves.
“When you start a race, when you’re at the start point, sometimes you get so nervous you are tensing a lot,” she added.
“But when you start the race, everything goes out of your mind, you are focusing on: ‘I’m now at 2km, I’m now at 3km.’ Everything in your mind, it’s about the course, about how you tackle it … For me, I’ll take the Olympics like any championship race.”
In switching her focus from track running to marathons, Obiri left her native Kenya to join the On Athletics Club in Boulder, Colorado. It’s a move that appears to have benefitted her career, even if it initially meant spending long periods away from her family and young daughter.
She went four months without seeing any of her family after making the 8,700-mile journey to her new home, growing accustomed to communicating with her daughter across multiple time zones.
“Now, we are much more settled with the family,” said Obiri. “Everything is going on well, I can train well. After the family come, they give you support, they give you everything you want, and you can have that peace of mind for training because your family’s here.”
Obiri is yet to test herself over a fast, flat marathon course, and the Olympic race is also unlikely to yield a quick time. That will be the case for everyone in the field, but there is one other area in which Obiri thinks she has an edge.
Her new racing shoes, debuted at the Boston Marathon earlier this year, have already caused something of a stir in the running community. The Cloudboom Strike LS, the latest elite marathon shoe from Swiss sportswear brand On, have no heel cap, no laces, and no tongue. The uppers are made from 1,500 meters of filament, which is sprayed onto a mold of the athlete’s foot suspended by a robotic arm.
When she was first handed a pair, Obiri was struck by how different they look compared to other carbon-plated running shoes, even at a time when marathon footwear is increasingly wacky, colorful and futuristic in appearance.
“For the first time, you are nervous, like, ‘This one is ridiculous,’” the 34-year-old recalled about first seeing the shoes. But those apprehensions soon vanished when she realized how comfortable they are to wear.
“I said, ‘Wow, I’m going to wear these shoes every time I do my run,” added Obiri, who features in a new documentary from On entitled “The Heart to Race.” “It was incredible, there’s no shoe like it.”
In Paris, Obiri will face competition from compatriots Peres Jepchirchir, the reigning London Marathon champion, and former world record holder Brigid Kosgei, as well as versatile Dutch star Sifan Hassan, who has already won a bronze medal in the 5,000 meters at these Games. Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa, the current world record holder, is also a strong contender for the gold medal.
And deep down, Obiri knows that the key to Olympic success doesn’t rest in her shoes, but rather the hours of training she has dedicated to this one race.
“I always say, we train hard, we win easy,” Obiri explained. “When we train with the coaches, I do take everything seriously.”