Speaking on his decision to quit, Kirui expressed satisfaction with his two-decade athletics journey and said he felt it was the right time to step away from the track and support the sport from a different angle.
“It’s been twenty years in active sport, always running clean, I think it is my time to say bye. I’ve had my time, and now it’s time to support others,” said the 42-year-old as quoted by Citizen Digital.
“My service has considered me as the deputy Director for Sports and chaplaincy and I thank them for that, through this position I will make sure I use it to produce even more Abel Kiruis.”
Kirui rose to fame after back-to-back wins
Kirui, who began running while at Samitui Primary School, rose to fame after winning back-to-back World Championship marathons in 2009 and 2011. He won in 2009 with a time of 2:06:54, then defended his title with a winning margin of two minutes and 28 seconds – the largest ever margin at the World Championship event.
He earned the silver medal in the 2012 London Olympic marathon. He won the 2008 Vienna City Marathon, the 2016 Chicago Marathon and was runner-up at the 2007 Berlin Marathon and 2017 Chicago Marathon.
After high school, the jobless Kirui entered a recruitment race by the Administration Police (AP); the winner of such a race would be recruited by AP. He won the race and subsequently joined AP, starting serious training only after that. He entered the 2006 Berlin Marathon as a pacemaker, but finished the race ninth.
At the 2007 Berlin Marathon, Kirui finished second with a time of 2:06:51, after the winner Haile Gebrselassie, who set a new marathon world record. The time made Kirui the sixth fastest marathoner in 2007.
He also won the Paderborn Half-marathon in 2007. At the 2008 Vienna City Marathon, he won with a new course record of 2:07:38.
He finished third in the 2009 Rotterdam Marathon with a time of 2:05:04 after fellow Kenyans Duncan Kibet and James Kwambai, making him the sixth fastest marathoner ever. On August 22nd, Kirui took gold over his teammate Emmanuel Mutai, who took silver at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin at a record time of 2:06:54.
After the 2009 World Championships, Kirui had many unsuccessful attempts to show the dominance he had shown in his Berlin race: he finished in fifth place at the 2010 London Marathon, then failed to finish at the 2011 London Marathon.
Immediately after that failure, he started training with Italian coach Renato Canova, moving from Kapsabet to Iten, together with Jonathan Maiyo. Training with Canova's group, he was able to recruit the best shape, winning in Daegu his second title in World Championships.
Kirui finished second at the 2012 Summer Olympics with a time of 2:08:27 barely losing to the winner Stephen Kiprotich by 26 seconds. At the 2016 Chicago Marathon, he won with a time of 2:11:23, after beating Dickson Chumba by 3 seconds.
He finished in second place at the 2017 Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:09:48 barely losing to the winner Galen Rupp by 28 seconds, and later finished the 2017 London Marathon, in fourth place with a time of 2:07:45. The following year, at the 2018 London Marathon he once again finished fourth with a time of 2:07:07.
