Daniel Komen

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Not to be confused with Daniel Kipchirchir Komen.

Medal record
Men’s Athletics
Competitor for Kenya
World Championships
Gold	1997 Athens	5.000 m

Daniel Kipngetich Komen (born May 17, 1976 in Elgeyo-Marakwet District) is a Kenyan middle- and long-distance runner. Komen is the first and only man to achieve back-to-back sub-four-minute miles, and is also the second man (after Said Aouita) ever to break both the 13-minute mark in the 5,000-meter run and the 3½-minute mark for the 1,500-meter run. He currently holds the indoor and outdoor world records for the 3,000 meters.

Komen is from the Keiyo sub-tribe of Kalenjin people in the Rift Valley of Kenya. He is one of thirteen children and began running at the age of seven as a means of getting to school. He rose to prominence in the mid-1990s after his exceptional junior career: at age 17, he placed second at the World Junior Cross Country Championships, and in 1994, he became the World Junior Champion in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters.

On September 1, 1996 in Rieti, Italy, Komen ran a spectacular world record time of 7:20.67 in the 3000 metres, breaking Noureddine Morceli's former record by 4.4 seconds.

A year later, Komen made history again. In Hechtel, Belgium, Komen became the first man to run two miles in under eight minutes, clocking a world record 7:58. Just seven months later, at an Australian athletics meet in Sydney, Komen ran another 7:58. These unprecedented sub-eight-minute feats remain unique to this day.

Komen's indoor 3,000-meter record of 7:24.90, set in Budapest on Feb 6, 1998, is still referred to as "Mount Everest"^[1] in athletics circles and has been bettered only twice outdoors, one of them being Komen's own world record.

Other accolades include being the 1997 World Championships in Athletics and 1998 Commonwealth Games 5,000-meter champion.

Daniel Komen's personal records, and their place on the world ranking of all times, as of September 2007:

Distance	Time	All-Time Rank	Date	Place
1500 Meters	3:29.46	49th	August 16, 1997	Monaco
1 Mile	3:46.38	12th	August 26, 1997	Berlin
2000 Meters	4:51.30	13th	June 5, 1998	Milano
3000 Meters	7:20.67	World Record	September 1, 1996	Rieti
2 Miles	7:58.61	World Best	July 19, 1997^[2]	Hechtel
5000 Meters	12:39.74	3rd	August 22, 1997	Brussels
10,000 Meters	27:38.32	471	August 30, 2002	Brussels

Records
Preceded by Noureddine Morceli	Men's 3.000m World Record Holder September 1, 1996 —	Succeeded by Incumbent
Sporting positions
Preceded by Moses Kiptanui	Men's 3.000m Best Year Performance 1996	Succeeded by Haile Gebrselassie
Preceded by Haile Gebrselassie	Men's 5.000m Best Year Performance 1996 – 1997	Succeeded by Haile Gebrselassie