A native of
Keiyo District in Kenya, Kipsang began competitive running for
Kenya Police, and finished second in the 10 kilometre
Tegla Loroupe Peace Race. He became a professional international athlete in 2007 and that year he took second place at the
Tilburg Ten Miles, recording a time of 46:27, and he won a
road race in
Hem (his time of 27:51 was the fourth fastest in a 10 km race that year). He also took third place at the Kenyan Police Force championships, finishing behind
Richard Mateelong.
2008 At the
World's Best 10K, he finished third with a time of 28:09 behind
Deriba Merga and
Silas Kipruto. He returned to the Tilburg Ten Miles race in 2008, and again finished as runner-up – just two seconds behind winner Abiyote Guta. His peak of the year was in a
half marathon race: the
Delhi Half Marathon. Kipsang pushed Merga, the 2006
World Road Running Champion, right up to the line but finished one second behind him. Despite the second-place finish, Kipsang improved his best by over one minute to 59:16. His time was also the third fastest half marathon by any runner that year, with Merga and
Haile Gebrselassie ahead of him by just one second each.
2009 Kipsang started 2009 strongly, winning the
Egmond Half Marathon in chilly conditions. Another good performance followed when he took second at the
Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon – his time of 58:59 made him only the fourth runner to have run below 59 minutes. At his second World's Best 10K he finished third, repeating his feat from the previous year. Despite being the favourite for the 2009
Berlin Half Marathon, he ended up in third place in a fast race which was the first occasion in which all the top-four runners finished under an hour. He competed in the
World 10K Bangalore in May 2009, and finished fourth. He competed in his first
IAAF World Half Marathon Championships at the end of that year, taking fourth place with a time of 1:00:08.
2010 In April 2010 he made his
marathon debut in the
Paris Marathon, and finished third in a time of 2:07:13 hours, half a minute behind winner
Tadesse Tola. He won the
Frankfurt Marathon in October in a new course record of 2:04:57, this time beating Tadesse by over a minute. The time made him the eighth fastest marathoner ever.
2011 He won his third marathon at the 2011
Lake Biwa Marathon, defeating
Deriba Merga to win in a course record of 2:06:13. He returned to defend his title at the Frankfurt Marathon and set about attacking
Patrick Makau's five-week-old world record. Kipsang came within four seconds of the time, crossing the line after 2:03:42, and ended the race with the second fastest marathon time ever.
2012 Kipsang began 2012 with a third-place finish at the RAK Half Marathon. He won the
London Marathon in April in 2:04:44, just 4 seconds short of the course record set the previous year by
Emmanuel Mutai. Starting as favourite he went on to win the bronze medal in the men's marathon at the
London 2012 Olympic games. One month after the Olympics, he travelled to
Newcastle to win the
Great North Run in 59:06. That December he won the
Honolulu Marathon.
2013 He opened 2013 by continuing his winning line, taking the title at the
New York Half Marathon. He was among the favourites for the
2013 London Marathon, but he managed only fifth place, timing 2:07:47 for the distance. He stepped down to the 10K for the
Great Manchester Run and although he beat Haile Gebrselassie, he was runner-up by one second to
Moses Kipsiro. He performed less well at the
Bogotá Half Marathon, taking fifth place with 1:05:26 hours. On 29 September he won the
Berlin Marathon, beating second place finisher
Eliud Kipchoge by over 30 seconds and setting a new world record of 2:03:23, 15 seconds faster than the previous record by Patrick Makau.
2014–2017 On 13 April 2014, Kipsang won the
2014 London Marathon in a course record time of 2 hours, 4 minutes and 29 seconds. On 2 November 2014, Kipsang won the
New York City Marathon in 2:10:59 in his first appearance. At the 2016 BMW Berlin marathon, Kipsang ran the joint fourth-fastest marathon time ever, 2:03:13, which was good enough for second place behind winner
Kenenisa Bekele in 2:03:03. At 2017
Tokyo Marathon Kipsang ran CR with 2:03:58. After being forced to step out at BMW Berlin marathon at 30 km mark, Kipsang achieved 2nd place at the
New York City Marathon in 2:10:56.
2018 After his success at the 2017
Tokyo Marathon, Wilson Kipsang returned to Japan's capital, with ambitions to reclaim the world record (WR) that he has lost to compatriot
Dennis Kimetto. In the press conference, he quoted 2:02:50, as his target time. However, the world record was not to be his, as Kipsang was forced to drop out after just 15 km, with stomach problems. The former world record holder said, "I really wanted to go fast, but after suffering from stomach problems the last two days before the race, I didn't have the power to run a decent race today." Wilson returned to Berlin in September to attempt to break the marathon world record. In the pre-race press conference, Wilson revealed that he would run a negative split, with 61:30 as his target time for the half-way point. On the race day, Wilson was unable to maintain the requested pace and ended up finishing 3rd, behind
Amos Kipruto and
Eliud Kipchoge, who did set a new marathon record, with the time of 2:01:39. ==Anti-doping rule violations and ban==