Philemon Kiplimo Kimaiyo (born 10 October 1998) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who specializes in road racing. He is one of the world's fastest half marathon runners of all time and has achieved top results in major international marathons.
He is serving a two-year doping ban, until September 2028, for use of the banned diuretic chlortalidone.
Career In 2019, he won the B.A.A. Half Marathon in Boston. His breakthrough performance came at the 2020 Valencia Half Marathon, where he finished fifth in a historically fast race. His time of 58:11 places him among the top ten fastest performers ever for the distance. He then won the 2021 Bahrain Royal Night Half Marathon.
After several strong half marathon performances, Kiplimo transitioned to the full marathon. In his debut at the 2022 Valencia Marathon, he ran a 2:05:44. He followed this with a top-ten finish at the 2023 Berlin Marathon, finishing eighth with a new personal best of 2:04:56.
In April 2025, Kiplimo finished second in the Hamburg Marathon, improving his personal best by nearly a minute to clock a time of 2:04:01.
Since September 1, 2026, Kiplimo has been serving a two-year doping ban for use of chlortalidone, a banned diuretic or masking agent. His results since July 19, 2026 were disqualified. He admitted to the anti-doping violation, stating he took a medication prescribed to his wife without knowing its contents.
Personal bests Marathon: 2:04:01 – Hamburg, Germany, 2025 Half Marathon: 58:11 – Valencia, Spain, 2020 10 km Road: 27:23 – Castellón, Spain, 2022
Major results Year Competition Location Position Time 2019 B.A.A. Half Marathon Boston, USA 1st 1:01:58 2020 Valencia Half Marathon Valencia, Spain 5th 58:11 2021 Bahrain Royal Night Half Marathon Manama, Bahrain 1st 1:00:01 2023 Berlin Marathon Berlin, Germany 8th 2:04:56 2025 Hamburg Marathon Hamburg, Germany 2nd 2:04:01Chicago MarathonChicago, USA8th2:06:14
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