Fresh from winning the Sirikwa Classic Cross Country, the 10 kilometres world record holder Agnes Jebet Ng’etich now has the world to conquer as she keeps her options open this season that included a World Athletics Championships.
For such a fast-rising athletics star who has been upending world records with ease, she would be presumably in high demand which would invariably lead to the star struggling to create time for even hard-pressed journalists with deadlines to meet.
No so Ng’etich, who is refreshingly down to earth, patient and easygoing.
“I would like to do an interview with you,” the writer pitches, in the heat of the moment just after the Sirikwa Classic Cross Country senior women’s 10km race has concluded at a jam-packed Lobo Village in Eldoret on Saturday.
Kenya’s Agnes Jebet Ng'etich celebrates after breaking the 10km world record at the Valencia 10km road race in Spain.
Photo credit: Pool
Here, Ng’etich obliterated the quality field that included the great Faith Kipyegon to win the World Athletics Gold Tour event title.
“No problem. You want it now?” she responds in fluent English, and with a dazzling smile.
In journalism, you grab the opportunity at the earliest moment for you never know when the subject will become available again.
Ng’etich is an early riser, waking up between 5 am to 6 am daily depending on the day’s training schedule.
“I wake up on Tuesday at 5 am when I have my speed work. I usually have breakfast after work, I have a light lunch, preferably chicken and rice. I rest for four hours before my evening sessions,” she said.
“A good rest of at least eight hours is vital to revitalise your body and mind...you wake up fresh,” she volunteers, looking fresh despite having just run a hard 10km in 32min 42sec.
Just how does she fuel such a lithe, lean running machine?
“I love ugali and chapati, taken with kuku (chicken), milk and managu,” said Ng’etich. “I do not eat red meat at all for medical reasons. It gives me stomach upsets,” she responds easily, engagingly, it would just have been two close friends talking over coffee at a restaurant.
Agnes Jebet Ngetich is the new world 10km record holder after she stormed to victory at the Brasov Running Festival in Romania.
Photo credit: Pool
Only, this is an international meet, the writer eager to get his story, the runner perhaps looking forward to some rest and solitude.
For now, the interview continues.
Her plans for this season? Ng’etich is aware of the challenge she faces in her quest to double in 5,000m and 10,000m at the World Athletics Championships scheduled for September 13 to 21 in Tokyo, Japan and even chase for more world records.
The 5,000m and 10,000m fields will be a stellar cast as the world championships return to the Japanese capital since 1991.
Some of the athletes expected in Tokyo are her compatriots, the reigning World 5,000metres champion Kipyegon, Olympic 5,000m and 10,000m champion Beatrice Chebet, who also holds the 10,000m and 5km world records, world 5km silver medallist Lilian Kasait, Margaret Chelimo and Africa 10,000m champion Janeth Chepng’etich.
Also expected are the world 10,000m champion, Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay, who is also the 5,000m world record holder and her country-mate Letesenbet Gidey.
Olympic marathon champion Sifan Hassan, who also collected bronze medals in 10,000m and 1,500m from the Paris Summer Games could be a key figure in Tokyo where she won the 2020 Olympic 5,000m and 10,000m titles.
“This a good challenge, “said the 24-year-old Ng’etich, relishing the fight.
“One has to beat the best to become the best. These are athletes I respect and admire and It will be a humbling experience to run against them, some whom I watched running on television while I was in school,” said Ng’etich. She picked up athletics seriously, having watched Kipyegon winning the 2016 Rio Olympics 1,500m while she was in Class Seven.
Ng’etich said that winning her season-opening race at Sirikwa gives her a perfect launch pad for the season.
“My plan this year is to perform well in track events and Sirikwa was just great, giving me endurance and speed,” said Ng’etich, who launched her 2024 season with the world record-breaking feat in 10km at Valencia Ibercaja.
Agnes Jebet Ngetich, the women’s-only 10kilometres world record holder, during her home coming ceremony at Eldoret International Airport in Uasin Gishu County on September 14, 2023.
Photo credit: File | Nation
Ng’etich improved on the former world record of Yalemzerf Yehualaw by 28 seconds, finishing in 28:46 to become the first woman to break the 29-minute barrier.
Her performance was faster than Gidey’s then-10,000m world record of 29:01.03 and faster than the current 10,000m world record of 28:54.14 set by Chebet.
She also improved the world's fastest 5 km run by a woman in a mixed-gender race as she went through the 5km checkpoint in 14:13, six seconds faster than the record set by Ethiopia’s Ejgayehu Taye in 2021.
“I am just praying for good health and you will see me. A stress fracture made me miss the 10,000m Olympics trials,” said the Ikaika Sports management athlete, who is coached by Julien Di Maria.
The Iten-based athlete gives credit to her coach, a former distance runner, for producing the best in her.
“One has to have some philosophy in what they are doing and coach Julien has instilled the essence of patience and discipline in everything I do,” said Ng’etich, who downplayed going for another world record this year.
“It happened to me last year when I broke the 10km record. The body just reacted well on the day,” she said.
Her next stop is the Grand Slam Track season that opens on April 4 to 6 at Independence Park, Kingston, Jamaica where she has signed for the 3,000m and 5,000m races.
In her explosive form, a world lead, or more is a distinct possibility.
