Many challenges to Team USA’s Paris Olympic plans come from athletes who have honed their skills in the US. Among them, Kenya’s Hellen Obiri is undoubtedly a major threat to Team USA’s podium-finish hopes in the women’s 5k race. A two-time winner of the Boston Marathon, Obiri is a force to be reckoned with, guided by the perfect person to lead her to even greater heights.

While Hellen’s family has been incredibly supportive of her goals and ambitions, it’s Dathan Ritzenhein, her coach, who has helped her add more weapons to her already impressive arsenal. Moving to the US to train rigorously under the watchful eye of the former Olympian, Obiri has added more accolades to her resume in the last two years. But who is the 41-year-old Ritzenhein anyway?

Meet Hellen Obiri’s coach

Dathan is a former marathoner and distance runner himself. A former athlete of the Colorado Buffaloes, Ritzenhein boasts a half-marathon bronze and a World Cross Country Championships bronze under his belt. Having represented the USA in three Olympic Games, Ritzenhein also understands the high demands the track and field athletes must adhere to. Dathan is currently the coach at the Colorado-based On Athletics Club and has a formidable training group honing their skills under his leadership.

While Hellen is a prolific athlete herself, Ritzenhein has helped her to sharpen her skills further. After her sixth-place finish at the 2022 New York Marathon, it was Dathan who convinced the Kenyan to compete in the Boston Marathon later that year. Luckily for Hellen, paying heed to her coach’s advice turned out to be the best decision of her career albeit having to make some sacrifices.

How persistence and her coach’s guidance helped Obiri reach her goals

In late 2022, Obiri moved to the US, leaving her family and daughter Tania behind in Kenya. The move proved to be a wise one and she ended up winning the 2023 Boston Marathon. However, Obiri stated that it was a necessary step for her to make a name for herself in the Marathon circuit after having spent so much time as a 5k runner. “When switching to the road, I felt I needed a coach on the ground with me in training. On track you can train without a coach present and do well, but with the marathon sometimes you need a coach to watch what you are doing,” she told the BBC in 2023. Keeping up with the sprinter’s ambitions, Dathan also did his part to help her find the mental stamina to reach out and grab glory by its scruff.

“I feel very happy to have won this race. I didn’t want to come for this race but my coach convinced me,” revealed Hellen to Pulse Sports after winning her first Marathon race. “He told me to practice patience up to the last minute and that is what has worked for me. I can’t believe I have won,” added a justifiably elated Obiri.

“Hellen’s definitely a veteran,” Ritzenhein also seems to have high regard for his star athlete, as quoted by Track& Field News in an interview with the OAC coach from 2023. But will his confidence in Obiri prove to be well-placed come the 2024 Paris Olympics? Fans will have to wait just a few more days to know the aswer.