She may have achieved glory at the 2024 Olympic Games, and even broken world records earlier on, but Beatrice Chebet does not plan to slow down in the new season, what with the 2025 World Athletics Championships on the horizon.
Chebet, who claimed historic 10,000 metres and 5,000m gold medals at the Paris Olympic Games, will attempt another double over the same distance at the 2025 World Athletics Championships from September 13 - 21 in Tokyo.
The success-hungry 24-year-old athlete from Londiani in Kericho County dreams of adding the 5,000m world record to her 10,000m world record. Chebet could enter the annals of history as the first woman to hold both the 10,000m and 5,000m Olympic, both world titles, as well as world records over the distances.
Buoyed by her success in junior ranks during which she won the 2019 Africa Under- 20 Athletics Championships 5,000m, the 2018 World Under-20 5,000m title, and the 2019 World cross-country under-20 title, Chebet launched her 2024 season with gusto.
She confirmed that her world cross-country victory in 2023 in Bathurst, Australia wasn’t a fluke when she retained the title with an explosive performance on March 30 in Belgrade, Serbia.
After putting away her 5,000m Doha Diamond League race comfortably in 14:26.98, Chebet warmed up for the 2024 Summer Olympics with a world record in 10,000m at the Prefontaine Classic on May 25 in Oregon, USA.
She clocked a blistering 28:55.14 to win the race, which also doubled up asa Kenyan trial for the Paris Olympics. She lowered the previous record of 29:01.03 which Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia set in 2021 in Hengelo by a massive seven seconds.
She became the first woman in history to run the 10,000m under 29 minutes, and the first Kenyan woman to hold the world record over the distance. She won in a race in which Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay, the 2022 world 5,000m and 2023 world 10,00m champion, had called for a world record pace.
“I had not planned for the record but I was prepared for any eventuality. Our goal was to go out with Tsegay’s pace and see what I could achieve and things rolled out well,” Chebet said afterwards.
That performance set the tone for Paris, where she clocked 14:28.56 to lift the Olympics 5,000m title, beating defending champion Sifan Hassan, and reigning world 5,000m champion Faith Kipyegon.
She went on to seal the 10,000m victory in 30:43.25, becoming the first Kenyan to achieve the feat as she edged out Italian Nadia Battocletti (30:43.35, NR), and defending champion Sifan Hassan (30:44.12).
“For the Olympics, it was about when preparation meets execution. Our preparations went smoothly and it was just a matter of putting everything together, which she did,” Chebet’s coach Peter Bii said, revealing that his athlete’s training changed a bit.
“We focused on volume and building on her general strength while working on her weaknesses plus overall support,” Bii explained, noting that to be able to perform at a high level, one needs a good team, from physiotherapists and pacers to coaches, which Chebet had.
“It’s not a one-man show but teamwork in training,” said Bii.
Chebet attempted to break the 5,000m world record of 14:00.21 set by Tsegay in 2023 in Zurich on September 5, as she aimed to be the first woman to run the race in under 14 minutes.
Chebet did not succeed on that occasion but managed to win the race in a world-leading time and a new meeting record of 14:09.52.
She went on to reclaim the 5,000m Diamond League title, winning the final in Brussels, Belgium, in another meet record time of 14:09.82.
The victory in Brussels that catapulted her to recapturing the Diamond League Trophy which she had won for the first time in 2022, saw her erase the previous Meeting Record of 14:28.89 set by Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana in 2016.
“It has been an amazing year with the double gold medal in Paris, the Diamond League Trophy and two meet records,” said Chebet, who is elated to have been the first Kenyan to claim an Olympic double, and the first to win the 10,000m title.
“But you have just to train hard, have faith in yourself and stay focused. Next season will be even tougher and requires good focus,” said Chebet.
Bii said Chebet will attempt a double in 10,000m and 5,000m races, and take a shot at the 5,000m world record if opportunity presents itself.
“Everything is going well in training since we are just getting started, so we are taking it one step at a time. She will be under no pressure to attempt any world record, be it in 5,000m or the 10,000m,” Bii said after Chebet opened her new season at the Cross Internacional de Itálica, a World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold meeting in Seville, Spain on November 17.
