“My work will be simple in Tokyo; to make history.” That was double Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet’s response when asked about her mission at the 2025 World Athletics Championships that will be held in Tokyo from September 13 to 21.
With the 2024 Olympics 10,000 metres and 5,000m titles, and world records over the distances under her belt, the 25-year-old is hungry for more glory at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
A double in Tokyo for the athlete from Londiani, Kericho County, could place her in a special place in history. She could become the first woman to hold both the 10,000m and 5,000m Olympic titles, both the world titles as well as the two world records over the respective distances.
“We are ready to write history in Tokyo, declared Chebet yesterday. “Everything is going well in training, and it’s taking it one step at a time,” she said.
“It is about when and not if. Her achievements show that she can do what she wants in Tokyo,” said Chebet’s coach, Peter Bii.
Triple Olympic and world 1,500m champion Faith Kipyegon holds the world 5,000m title while Ethiopia’s Tsegay Gudaf has the world 10,000m title.
Kenya is yet to win the world women’s 10,000m gold since Vivian Cheruiyot’s exploits in 2011 Daegu. Chebet has had a good season so far.
She retained her Elgoibar Cross Country Juan Muguerza Memorial title in Spain on January 5. She then settled for 34th at the Sirikwa Classic Cross Country Golf Tour on February 22.
Chebet blew away the decade-old 3,000 metres Kenyan record with the second fastest time in history at Rabat Diamond League on May 25. Chebet clocked a blistering 8:11.56 to also set three new records in the process -- the Africa record, meeting record and Diamond League record.
Chebet erased Hellen Obiri’s national record of 8:20.68 set in Doha on May 9, 2015, and the Africa record of 8:19.52 set in 2021 by Ethiopia’s Ejgayehu Taye.
Chebet also beat the Diamond League record of 8:22.22 set by Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia in 2015 by a massive 11 seconds as she just missed the world record of Chinese Wang Junxia run on September 13, 1993.
The phenomenal Chebet would run the second fastest time in history in the 5,000m when she won the Rome Diamond League in a national record and meeting record on June 6.
She beat Gudaf to win in 14:03.69 and in the process broke the national record of 14:05.20 set by Kipyegon on June 9, 2023, at the Paris Diamond League. Chebet missed Gudaf’s world record of 14:00.21 from the Prefontaine Classic on September 17, 2023, by 3.48 seconds.
However, that world record would only last for a month. She became the first woman in history to cover 5,000m inside 14 minutes, clocking a world record 13:58.06 at the Prefontaine Classic on July 5.
Next up, the Tokyo World Athletics Championships from September 13 to 21.
