Sport Athletics Weight 60 kg | Height 1.7 m Events Half marathon, Marathon | |
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Born 5 March 1988 (age 29) ( 1988-03-05 ) | ||
Evans Kiplagat Chebet Barkowet (born 5 March 1988) is a Kenyan long-distance runner. He became eligible to compete for Azerbaijan after June 2016, having gained citizenship that year. He previously had tried to gain Russian citizenship.
He emerged in national events in 2008 before competing abroad in road running events, with a third place finish at the 2009 Lille Half Marathon in 59:56 establishing him as an elite level runner. He made his marathon debut at the Amsterdam Marathon in 2009, finishing the distance in 2:10:46 hours. His next outing was the Frankfurt Marathon in 2010, placing ninth in a time of 2:10:07 hours. He ran two further marathons in 2011, taking third at the Vienna City Marathon in a personal best of 2:09:22 hours, before a return to Amsterdam, where he was tenth in 2:10:42.
His performances declined in the 2012 season, though his run of 2:16:43 hours at the Istanbul Marathon was enough for third. He was runner-up at the Rabat Half Marathon and Darıca Half Marathon in 2013, which preceded a run of 2:11:26 hours for sixth at the JoongAng Seoul Marathon. He had his best results yet in 2014: he improved his best twice in runner-up performances, first at the Prague International Marathon with 2:08:17 hours behind Patrick Kipyegon Terer, then at the JoongAng Seoul race with 2:07:46 behind Feyisa Bekele.
The 2015 season saw him continue his form, with wins at the Tarsus and Istanbul Half Marathons, his first marathon win in Iten, and runner-up finishes in Prague and Istanbul. He was again the second-placer in a marathon at the start of 2016 at the Seoul International Marathon. His time of 2:05:33 hours there pushed him towards the top of the event global rankings. He appeared for Azerbaijan at the 2016 European Athletics Championships, placing 19th in the half marathon, and at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where he finished 28th in the marathon.