Former KU Jayhawks distance runner came oh-so-close to medal in Olympic marathon

Matching three competitors stride for stride with one kilometer remaining in the 2024 Women’s Olympic Marathon, former University of Kansas standout Sharon Lokedi was out-kicked down the stretch to place fourth and barely miss out on a medal in a thrilling race Sunday in Paris, France.

Representing Kenya, the 30-year-old Lokedi crossed the finish line in a personal-best time of 2 hours, 23 minutes, 14 seconds. Teammate Hellen Obiri, also of Kenya, finished 4 seconds ahead of Lokedi to win bronze in 2:23.10.

Sifan Hassan of Netherlands and Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia made it a two-person race in the final moments. Hassan won the gold medal in 2:22.55. Assefa crossed the line to win silver in 2:22.58, 3 seconds off the winning time.

Lokedi, a native of Eldoret, Kenya who competed for the Jayhawks from 2015-19, barely missed medaling at the 2024 Olympics just a day after former KU runner Bryce Hoppel placed fourth in the men’s 800 despite setting the American record in the event.

A medal would have been a remarkable achievement for Lokedi, a 10-time All-American and 12-time Big 12 champion who entered her first marathon in 2022 in New York. She won that race, breaking onto the national scene with a time of 2:23.23.

“I am very proud of it,” Lokedi said of her marathon performance Sunday in a post on Instagram. “Honestly I saw myself being in the top three all the way through. I knew the last few kilometers were going to be tough. I just wanted to fight as much as I could and be in the top group all the way close to the end.

“I knew I don’t have a kick so I had to really, really work hard and make sure I stayed in the top part (of the pack of runners). I did. Toward the end it’s unfortunate there were still four of us, but I am proud she (Hellen Obiri) got the medal for us. We all work together. It’s not what we expected (but) we are still proud of what we did. I hope the Kenyans are happy. I am very emotional.”

Representing KU, Lokedi won the 10,000 meters at the 2018 NCAA Outdoor championships. Her time of 32:09.20 broke a 30-year-old meet record.

She was third in 5,000 at the 2018 NCAA Indoor and third in the 10,000 at the 2017 NCAA Outdoor meet. She graduated from KU in 2019 with degrees in business and nursing.

Lokedi took second at the 2024 Boston Marathon and third in the 2023 New York Marathon. She had a foot injury in 2023 and was unable to compete for 10 months. She had to withdraw from the Boston Marathon in April of that year.

Of winning in New York in 2022, she said: “It has changed my perspective on so many things. Winning gives you this confidence, this excitement all the time.”

Lokedi was named to Kenya’s Olympic team when an injury forced former world record-holder and reigning Olympic silver medalist Brigid Kosgei to withdraw. “I AM GOING TO PARIS!!! I am beyond excited to be heading to my first Olympics and my first team selection,” Lokedi wrote on social media.

Lokedi trains in Flagstaff, Arizona with her fiance, Edward Cheserek, who was a 14-time NCAA champion distance runner at Oregon.

She spoke of her time at KU and running career in a post at olympics.com: “After high school I didn’t really know what life would be like. I had stopped running, and my mom said, ‘You know, you can start running again. There are scholarships being offered and stuff.’

“Just the thought of that made me think, ‘Maybe if I do that, it would change my life, it would change the life of our family’. I am glad I made that decision. Where we are right now, I never thought I would be here.

“It was a different environment,” she added of Kansas and the U.S. “I had to learn everything, from speaking American English to using a computer, among other things.”