Wilson Kwambai Chebet (born 12 July 1985, in Marakwet District) is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner who specialises in road running competitions. He has a marathon best of 2:05:27 hours.
He began competing internationally in 2005 and established himself with a number of circuit wins in his first three years of competition, including the Marseille-Cassis Classique Internationale and America's Finest City Half Marathon. He managed podium finishes at the Granollers Half Marathon, Rotterdam Half Marathon and Delhi Half Marathon in 2008. He represented Kenya at the 2009 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships and helped win the team gold medal.
Chebet began pacemaking in marathon races in 2009 and made his competitive debut over the distance in 2010. His clocking of two hours, 6:12 minutes to finish as runner-up at the Amsterdam Marathon was the second fastest debut run of all time. In 2011, won both the Amsterdam and Rotterdam Marathons. He repeated as Amsterdam champion in 2012.
His half marathon best of 59:15 minutes ranks among the top 15 fastest ever and he is in the top ten fastest ever over 20 km.
Career
Early career
Running in Kenya, he began entering elite competitions as a teenager: he placed top-ten at the 2004 Tegla Loroupe Peace Race and he took second place in a 15K road race in January 2005 behind Clement Koech. He made his debut on the European circuit later that year, winning at the Route du Vin Half Marathon in September in 1:02:19 and then going on to finish tenth at the Paris 20K the following month. In January 2006 he returned to his native country and ran at the Discovery Kenya Cross Country and finished third in a long race won by Moses Masai. He ran a series of races in Spain from March to April, starting with a win at the Ribarroja del Turia Half Marathon, before taking third in the Azkoitia-Azpeitia race, second at the Málaga Half Marathon behind Silas Sang and ending with a podium finish at the Gran Fondo Nacional Villa de Massamagrell.
His 2006 season peaked at road races in the United States: he won America's Finest City Half Marathon in San Diego with a time of 1:02:38 and later that month he ran at the Crim 10-Mile Race and was the runner-up Samuel Kosgei. Two months later he won the Medical Center 10K Classic in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He returned to the Route du Vin race in 2007 and took his second win, this time setting a course record of 1:00:13 (a personal best). He also won at the Marseille-Cassis Classique Internationale in France – his time of 59:24 was the second fastest winning time for the course. In December that year he ran at the Lagos Half Marathon and finished runner-up to Dieudonné Disi.
Half marathon specialist
He ran extensively in 2008, beginning with a second-place run at the Granollers Half Marathon behind then world record holder Samuel Wanjiru. Surprisingly, he ran in the Barcelona Half Marathon only seven days later and managed to finish as runner-up to Jacob Yator. This was followed by a fourth place at the Paris Half Marathon in March and a second victory at the Ribarroja Half Marathon in April. He ran under an hour for the half marathon in September, clocking a time of 59:33 for third place behind world medallists Evans Cheruiyot and Patrick Makau at the Rotterdam Half Marathon. Looking for a title defence, he returned to the Marseille-Cassis race and managed to fend off a challenge from Disi (his rival in Lagos) to increase his winning streak. He was among the leaders at the Delhi Half Marathon in September, his last major run of the year, and he was one second off his personal best with a third-place finish.