by Deji Ogeyingbo
This is our eleventh COROS Athletes Watch, and the focus is on Lonah Salpeter. Lonah had won the bronze medal in the World Championships marathon just three weeks prior to the European Championships.
In Munich, Lonan battled the best of Europe in the Women’s 10,000m, where she took an incredible bronze medal. Lonah admits that road running is her priority, but she was dangerous that night at the 25 lapper!
Lonah Salpeter competes for the NN Running team and her country, Israel. Lonah Salpeter is also sponsored by COROS.
To learn more about COROS, please click here.
Lonah Salpeter adds European Championship Bronze to 2022 collection.
After the disappointment of not winning an Olympic medal in 2016 and 2021 while also collecting one global medal in that time frame, Israel’s Lonah Salpeter has now won two medals in the space of one month.
Salpeter went into the European Championships in Munich with the sole aim of defending the 10,000m title she won in Berlin two years ago. However, Turkey’s Kenyan-born Yasemin Can surged away from her with the Israeli with 3k remaining in the race and then built a big lead en route to posting the third best among European performers in 2022.
While Salpeter will take solace in the fact she ran a new Personal Best of 30:46.37, there was also a slight sense of surprise and regret that she was beaten to gold by Can.
Salpeter was one of the firm favorites for Gold in Munich and set the early pace for two-thirds of the race alongside Great Britain’s Eilish McColgan. Can, the winner of this race in 2016, set off on a blistering procession of 65s final laps, and in the face of all the odds, she did not bulge under pressure.
“I came to Munich relaxed after my medal at the World Championships. I learned to be patient after what happened to me in Doha 2019, and I’m really glad to have come away with yet another medal this year.”
Eugene, Oregon, USA
July 15-26, 2022, photo by Kevin Morris
The Bronze makes it her second medal of the season after she won Bronze over the marathon at the world championships in Oregon in 2:20:18. It comes off the back of a very horrid 2021 in which Salpeter finished the women’s marathon in 66th place in 2:48:31 at the Tokyo Olympics.
Salpeter — a native of Kenya who became an Israeli citizen in 2016 after meeting and marrying her Israeli husband, Dan Salpeter, was forced to pause running at the Games due to intense menstrual cramps. With just four kilometers left to go, she paused on the side of the track after experiencing severe pain. She ultimately returned to finish the race and came in 66th out of 88 runners.
“I was really proud to represent Israel; I was going today to fight for any medal,” she told Israel’s Sports Channel. “I apologize that I didn’t win,” she added before breaking down in tears and walking away from the interview she granted in Tokyo.
After the race in Tokyo last year, Salpeter was on a mission to put herself back on the map of global running, and winning two medals at the world and European Championships medals will go a long way to help alleviate the pain of missing out on an Olympic medal.
Salpeter holds Israeli national records in the marathon, the half-marathon, and the 10,000-meter run. And when she ran the Tokyo Marathon last March, Salpeter won the event in a race record of 2:17:45.
Above all, Salpeter is proud to compete for the State of Israel and is far from done doing so after her recent exploits.
“I feel support from Israel, and I feel proud to hold the flag for Israel,” she said. “I let them down, and I promise next time will be something different.”
For now, Salpeter will focus her attention on the remainder of the season as she looks to end it with a flourish over the marathon.
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