Lonah Chemtai Salpeter

Lonah Korlima Chemtai Salpeter (לונה צ'מטאי-סלפטר, Chemtai, born 12 December 1988) is a Kenyan-born Israeli Olympic runner. She won the bronze medal in the marathon at the 2022 World Athletics Championships. At the European Athletics Championships in the 10,000 metres, Salpeter won the gold medal in 2018, and earned a bronze medal in 2022. She won the 2020 Tokyo Marathon, won the silver medal at the 2022 New York City Marathon, and finished third at the 2023 Boston Marathon.

Her personal best time for the marathon is 2:17:45, which Salpeter ran in 2020 and which made her the sixth-fastest female marathon runner in history (currently, she is the 11th), the second-fastest European of all time, and set a new Israeli national record. Salpenter represented Israel at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. As of November 2022, she held six Israeli national records, over distances ranging from 3000 metres to the marathon.

Salpeter will represent Israel at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris in the marathon on 11 August 2024.

Early and personal life
Lonah Chemtai was born and raised in the small village of Kapkanyar, in West Pokot County, in the Rift Valley Province in western Kenya, a member of the Pokot tribe of the Kalenjin people. The members of the tribe speak the Pokot language and Swahili, are warriors, and do not like running--despite being good runners. She grew up living in a dwelling made of sheet metal, without electricity or running water. She has 12 siblings, and the members of the family had to walk down to a nearby river to fetch their water. Her school was four kilometers (2.5 miles) away from her home. In 2005, her father died, at 55 years of age, and Lohan helped her mother by tilling the land of the family farm, milking cows, cooking, washing, and fetching water from the river.

She came to Israel in December 2008 at 20 years of age, having never left her village previously, to work as a live-in nanny for the three children under five years of age of Kenya's Ambassador to Israel. The Ambassador's wife was initially away studying in Australia, but returned to the family in 2010. She lived and worked in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv.

She met Israeli running coach Dan Salpeter in 2011, when he was a university student. The two married in 2014, and she became pregnant later that year. The couple's son, Roy, was born in December 2014. The family resided in moshav Yanuv, in central Israel, and then in Shoham, also in central Israel.

She received support in her quest for Israeli citizenship from Kenya’s Ambassador to Israel, Augostino Njoroge. He said that Kenya had plenty of marathon runners, and that he would be happy to have Salpeter run for Israel: "Kenya and Israel are so good friends. We cannot hand you the medal, but we can give you somebody who can bring the medal. This is what good friends are there for."

Shortly after, in March 2016, Salpeter became an Israeli citizen on account of her being married to an Israeli citizen, eight years after she began residing in Israel, and a few days before the cut-off to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics. The family now lives in Kibbutz Lehavot HaBashan in northern Israel, with a little dog, Mumu, who, Israeli Channel 10 TV reported dryly, is black and white.

Running career
She began running in a local park in Herzliya as a hobby in 2010. She said: "When I started seeing people running in [Tel Aviv], I said to myself ‘I can be like them.’ Then I met my husband, and he was encouraging me and supporting me a lot."

Her husband, an Israeli former middle-distance and mountain runner, is also her coach. They met as she was casually running in a park. In her youth she ran shorter distances, and she only began running marathons after 2014. She says that runners face the challenge of learning how to handle pain, and she adds: "And losing. You train for months, and you are disappointed, but you need to take a challenge. You need to know where your weaknesses were, and the mistakes that you made."

Her club is Maccabi Tel Aviv. Salpeter trains 190-200 kilometers (118-124 miles) a week. She does not listen to music as she runs, saying "I always like to listen to my heart beating. Even though I’m running 42 kilometers, I run without music." Salpeter also revealed that "In a marathon I don't look at who I passed or who is passing me. I have a goal and I only see it." She said: "People tell me, ‘You inspire us, you make us proud,’ so that really motivates me a lot. I want to inspire the younger generation in Israel."

2016–17; Tel Aviv Marathon gold and 2016 Olympics
Salpeter came in first among the women in the 2016 Tel Aviv Marathon in 2:40:16, almost five minutes below the qualification time for the 2016 Rio Olympics. It was the first time she had run a marathon.

Salpeter then competed for Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the marathon. By the 30th kilometer, her time put her in the top half of the runners, ranking her approximately 90th. She left the race at the 35th kilometer, with sharp pain in her chest. On the advicae of officials in Brazil who thought that the baby might get sick, she had not brought her baby with her to Rio de Janeiro, and had stopped nursing it a few weeks before the race, resulting in her having extra breast milk and consequently problems with her chest. She explained on Facebook: "Unfortunately, I was forced to stop by a shoulder problem. As you all know, I’m still nursing my 20-month-old son. During my training in Kenya, I tried to stop, but it caused me pain and a shoulder problem due to running with breasts full of milk. This limited me in the European championships in Amsterdam (a half-marathon) and happened again today. I promise to attain respectable achievements in the future and am going forward with head held high."

In September 2016 Salpeter came in 11th in the 2016 Berlin Marathon in Germany, in 2:40:16.

In May 2017 she won the Berlin BIG 25 km race in Germany, in 1:28:48.

In June 2017, Salpeter won a silver medal in the 2017 European Athletics Team Championships Second League 5,000 metre race in Tel Aviv, Israel, as she ran a 16:19.90.

In August 2017, in the 2017 London World Championship Marathon, Salpeter ran a 2:40, coming in 41st.

2018; Florence Marathon gold and European 10,000m champion
In May 2018, Salpeter won the 2018 European 10,000 m Cup in London, with a time of 31:33.03, a new Israeli national record. She was named the female European Athlete of the Month for May.

In June 2018, she won the Valencia 15 km, in Valencia, Spain, with a time of 47:38, a personal best and a new Israeli record.

In July 2018, Salpeter won the 1500 m at the Israeli National Championships, with a time of 4:11.69, a personal best.

That same month, she won the Guldensporenmeeting 5,000 metre race in Kortrijk, Belgium, with a time of 15:17.81.

On 8 August 2018, Salpeter won the 10,000 metres at the 2018 European Athletics Championships in Berlin, with a time of 31:43.29. She became the first Israeli athlete to win a gold medal at the championships.

Four days later, in the 5000 metres race in her second competition at the Championships, Salpeter miscounted the number of laps in the 12.5-lap race. As she and the other lead runners crossed the line, with her in close second place, she pulled up one lap early by mistake and veered off course 400 metres early, thinking she had just crossed the finish line. However, as race officials rang the bell indicating the start of the final lap, Salpeter realized her error, and sprinted after the leader. The gap was too large for her to close, however, and she finished in fourth place, in a time of 15:01. Nevertheless, her time was a new Israeli record, breaking the old one by 17 seconds. After finishing she collapsed on the grass, crying, and in her post-race interview only managed to say: "What a fool I am." An hour after the conclusion of the race, race officials disqualified her for having crossed lanes on the track.

In September 2018, Salpeter won the Dam tot Damloop 10-mile race in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, with a time of 50:45. She won by one second, and also won the gender pursuit race by 35 seconds over Joshua Cheptegei. It was the first time that she ran the distance.

In October 2018 she won a silver medal in the Lisbon Half Marathon in Portugal, in 1:07:55.

On 25 November 2018, Salpeter won the Florence Marathon, setting an Israeli national record and course record of 2:24:17. She broke the prior course record by four minutes, and was six minutes ahead of the second-place finisher Caroline Chepkwony. She ran a negative split, running the first half of the race in 1:12:38, and the second half in 1:11:39. It was only her fifth marathon. In December 2018, she won the Roma We Run Rome 10K in Rome, Italy, in a time of 31:46.

2019; Prague Marathon gold
In February 2019, Salpeter won the Or Yehuda 5K Race in Tel Aviv, with a time of 15:15, a personal best.

That same month she won the Israeli 15km Championships in Rishon Letzion, with a time of 48:42.

In March 2019, Salpeter won the Roma-Ostia Half Marathon in Rome, Italy, with a time of 1:06:40. She was two seconds off the course record.

In April 2019, she came in second in the Prague Half Marathon in Prague, the Czech Republic, with a time of 1:06:09, a personal best.

On 5 May 2019, Salpeter won the Prague Marathon, with a course record 2:19:46 time, breaking the old course record by over two minutes. She clocked the 24th-best time for a woman in that distance in history, the third-best European time ever, and a new Israeli national record. She ran a negative split, running the first half in 70:12, and -- despite the wind increasing -- the second half in 69:33. She moved to third on the European all-time list in the marathon, behind world record-holder Paula Radcliffe (2:15:25) and Irina Mikitenko (2:19:19).

Also in May 2019, she won the silver medal in the European Champion Clubs Cup ECCC Group B 1,500 metre race in Tampere, Finland, in 4:20.51. She was named the female European Athlete of the Month for May 2019.

In July 2019, she won a silver medal in the 2019 European 10,000 m Cup in London, with an Israeli national record of 31:15.78, seven seconds behind Steph Twell.

In August 2019 Salpeter won a gold medal in the 2019 European Athletics Team Championships Second League 5,000 metre race, in Varaždin, Croatia, in a time of 15:44.38.

In September 2019 at the Tilburg Ten Miles in the Netherlands, as Salpeter won the gold medal, she set a new Israeli record, and broke the European record in the 10 kilometres with a time of 30:04, the second-fastest women's time ever recorded for the distance, slicing 17 seconds off the previous record set by Paula Radcliffe in 2003.

On 28 September 2019, Salpeter ran in the women's marathon at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar. She was forced to leave the race after 32 kilometers (20 miles) while she was in fifth place and 11 seconds behind the lead runner, as temperatures rose to 91 °F (32.7 °C), along with humidity of 73% that made it feel like 105 °F (40 °C). In all, 28 out of 68 runners (41%) failed to finish the race.

In December 2019 she won the Israeli Half Marathon Championships in Beit She'an, with a time of 1:10:05.

2020; Tokyo Marathon gold at 2:17:45
In March 2020, Salpeter won the gold medal in the 2020 Tokyo Marathon with a time of 2:17:45, setting a new course and Israeli record, and medalling in her first World Marathon Major. She broke away from the women’s field at the 30-kilometer mark, and broke the course record by over two minutes. She ran the sixth-fastest women's marathon in the world of all time.

In July 2020, she won the 800 metre Israeli Championship in Tel Aviv with a time of 2:06.63, a personal best, and the 1,500 metre Israeli Championship with a time of 4:17.96.

In September 2020, Salpeter won the silver medal in the One Hour Memorial Van Damme in Brussels, Belgium, with a distance of 18,571 metres.

In December 2020, she won the Israeli Half Marathon Championships with a time of 1:13:38.

2021; 2020 Olympics marathon
In January 2021, Salpeter won the Hayarkon Park 5km Road Race in Tel Aviv, with a time of 15:28.

In February 2021, she won the Tuscany Camp Half Marathon in Siena, Italy, with a time of 1:07:09.

On 14 March 2021, Salpeter won the Agmon Hahula Marathon in Hula Valley with a time of 2:22:37, and qualified to represent Israel at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. She ran negative splits, running 71:31 in the first half, and 71:06 in the second half.

On 6 August 2021, after running in the leading pack runners for most of the race, Salpeter came in 66th in the women's marathon at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games with a time of 2:48:31. She was in the front pack of runners with four kilometers (2.5 miles) to go, in a battle for the bronze medal with Molly Seidel, when she had to pause due to severe pain from intense menstrual cramps. She only started running again 20 minutes later, finished 21 minutes behind the winner Peres Jepchirchir, and said: "I will never give up, so I need to cross the finish line. I tried my best." Shortly after the marathon ended, she said: "I was really proud to represent Israel, I was going today to fight for any medal. I apologize that I didn’t win," before breaking into tears and walking away from the interview. When asked about the problem, she looked at the only female reporter in the crowd and said, “You understand.” She explained further: "Women — we struggle sometimes with this kind of situation, Not every day is good for us because every month we receive this period and some ladies, they’re ok with it, and some are not good with it. This is our nature, so [some women], they don’t feel comfortable to say it. I also feel uncomfortable saying it, but I say it’s nature, I don’t have to hide anything just because the men cannot feel the way we feel."

Two days later Salpeter said she does not live life with regrets, and was already looking ahead to the future. "I don’t have regrets, because I just take my life like a book. I already came from that page from yesterday, so I need to open another page to see what is going on in the future. If I look back, I will be mentally destroyed."

In October 2021 she came in fifth in the 2021 London Marathon with a time of 2:18:54. Her time was just over a second after first-place winner Joyciline Jepkosgei, and just half a second after third place finisher Ashete Bekere.

In December 2021, she won the bronze medal in the San Silvestre Vallecana 10K in Madrid, Spain with a time of 31:14.

That month Salpeter also won the Tiberias Half Marathon in Israel, with a time of 1:11:35.

2022; New York City Marathon silver and World Championships bronze
In March 2022, Salpeter won a silver medal in the Nagoya Women's Marathon, in Nagoya, Japan, with a time of 2:18:45. She ran a negative second half split of 1:08:58, compared to her first half split of 1:09:47, as she finished with a time that was faster than the previous event record. In April 2022, she won the Israeli 10,000m Championships in Tel Aviv, with a time of 31:49.75.

In May 2022, she won the 5,000 metres Maccabi Idelson Cup in Tel Aviv, with a time of 16:10.13.

In July 2022, Salpeter won a bronze medal in the 2022 World Athletics Championships marathon in Eugene, Oregon, with a time of 2:20:18. She started surging in the last third of the race, and said: "“The marathon starts at 30km." She accepted the medal while wearing the Israeli flag draped across her back, and said: "I’m so proud to represent my country".

In August 2022, Salpeter won the bronze medal for Israel at the 2022 European Athletics Championships in Munich, Germany, in the 10,000 metres race, and set an Israeli record with a time of 30:36:37.

In November 2022, Salpeter won the silver medal at the 2022 New York City Marathon, with a time of 2:23:30, only seven seconds behind the winner Sharon Lokedi. On an unseasonably warm and humid day for New York City, she had been in the lead for most of the last few miles, and was only passed by Lokedi in the final mile. She had been dealing with sensitivity in one of her inner thigh muscles for several months. After the race she said: "I always, whatever race I do, I always remember my nation. I need to run for them! Back in Israel, every race is my way to say thank you. Thank you to Israel!” It was the first time she had run the New York City Marathon.

As of that month, she held Israeli national records for 1500, 3000, 5000, and 10,000 metres, as well as for the half marathon.

2023; Boston Marathon bronze
In February 2023, Salpeter won the Tel Aviv 10K with a time of 31:20. She said: "For me, it is a great honor to make my country proud in every race that I compete in."

In March 2023 she won the silver medal in the Roma-Ostia Half Marathon, in Rome, Italy, in 1:06:56, 35 seconds behind the gold medal winner.

In April 2023, Salpeter won the bronze medal in the 2023 Boston Marathon, in Boston, Massachusetts, in a time of 2:21:57, 19 seconds behind the gold-medal winner and two-time world champion Hellen Obiri. She led the pack of runners until the final two miles. It was the first time she had run the Boston Marathon.

In May 2023, Salpeter won the 5,000 metres Maccabi Idelson Cup in Tel Aviv with a time of 16:52.10.

In June 2023, she won the silver medal in the 5,000 metres 2023 European Athletics Team Championships Third Division in Chorzów, Poland, with a time of 15:36.07.

Also in June 2023 she won the Hamburg Half Marathon, in Hamburg, Germany, in 1:10:05.

In August 2023 Salpeter came in fourth in the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, running it in 2:25:38.

In November 2023, she won the silver medal in the 15K Zevenheuvelenloop, in Nijmegen, in the Netherlands, with a time of 47:55, 43 seconds behind gold medal winner and world champion Beatrice Chepkoech.

2024
Salpeter will represent Israel at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris in the marathon on 11 August 2024. She was chosen to be Israel's female flag-bearer at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games on 26 July 2024.

Personal bests

 * 3000 metres – 8:42.88 (Birmingham 2018)
 * 5000 metres – 14:59.02 (London 2019)
 * 10,000 metres – 30:46.37 (Munich 2022)
 * One hour run – 18,571 metres (Brussels 2020)
 * 10 km – 30:05 (Tilburg 2019)
 * Half marathon – 1:06:09 (Prague 2019)
 * Marathon – 2:17:45 (Tokyo 2020)