Franklin Chepkwony (15 June 1984 – 8 August 2023), sometimes spelled Frankline, was a Kenyan professional long-distance runner.[1] He had a marathon personal best time of 2:06:11 hours.[2]
Chepkwony's first marathon run came at the 2011 Nairobi Marathon, where he placed second in a time of two hours and eleven minutes.[3] He made his international marathon debut at the 2012 Zurich Marathon, winning with a time of 2:10:57.[4] Later that year, Chepkwony set a personal best of 2:06:11 when finishing second at the Eindhoven Marathon in October, 25 seconds behind compatriot Dickson Chumba.[5] This time ranked him 26th in the world over the distance for that year.[6]
In 2013, Chepkwony won the Seoul International Marathon in 2:06:59, taking home $80,000 for winning the race under 2:10:00.[7] He ran his second marathon in the Netherlands in October, but did not perform as well as he had in Eindhoven, coming seventh in the Amsterdam Marathon in a time of 2:09:53 hours.[1] In November he won the Boulogne-Billancourt Half Marathon in France, setting a course record of 1:00:11.[8]
He opened the following season at the Santa Pola Half Marathon, coming second.[9] In April, Chepkwony finished third in the 2014 Boston Marathon, his first top finish in the World Marathon Majors, behind American Meb Keflezighi and Kenyan Wilson Chebet.[10]
Chepkwony was a training partner of Dennis Kimetto[11] and Geoffrey Mutai.[12]