[2] His coach was Italian Gabriele Rosa, who also trained Kenyan marathon runners Paul Tergat and Moses Tanui.

[7] He secured his place at the 2002 Berlin Marathon a week before the race,[3][2] after running 35 kilometres (22 mi) at altitude in Kenya.

[8] Kipkoech won the race in a final sprint with fellow Kenyans Simon Biwott and Vincent Kipsos.

[2] It was suggested that if the race's pacemakers had run faster, Kipkoech would have had a chance of beating the world record, which was 2:05:38 at the time.

[11][15] In 2005, he won the Xiamen International Marathon after breaking away from Ethiopian Tekeste Kebede 37 kilometres (23 mi) into the race.