Kenya's Dorcus Ewoi displays her silver medal during the women's 1,500m medal ceremony at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on September 17, 2025.
In Tokyo
Surprise package Dorcas Ewoi of Kenya has became an instant celebrity after winning the silver medal at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo behind world champion Faith Kipyegon.
Although her parents are from Turkana, Ewoi was born in Kitale on October 2, 1996, and attended Biribiret Primary School and St Francis Girls High School in Trans Nzoia County.
Afterwards, she joined Transcend Academy, an athletics academy founded by 2012 Boston Marathon champion Wesley Korir. Korir is former MP for Cherangany Constituency.
She left Transcend Academy in 2020 for South Plains Community College in Texas on a sports scholarship, and later transferred to Campbel University in North Carolina.
Kenya's Faith Kipyegon (centre) celebrates after winning gold in the women's 1500m final with silver medallist Dorcus Ewoi (left) and bronze medallist Jessica Hull of Australia at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on September 16, 2025.
She graduated from Campbell University in 2023 with a BSc Biology degree, and is currently pursuing a master's degree in nursing at the same institution.
As a university student, she finished fifth in women’s 800 metres race in the 2023 NCAA Division One Outdoor Track and Field Championships, then turned professional. The same year, she signed up with German sportswear manufacturer Puma.
On Tuesday, the 28-year-old US-based student trailed Olympics and world champion Kipyegon, who won the race in 3 minutes, 52.15 for a 1-2 finish for Kenya.
Ewoi finished second in a personal best time of 3:52.92, followed in third place by Jessica Hull from Australia in 3:55.15. Kenya’s Nelly Chepchirchir finished fourth in 3:55.25.
Afterwards, she captured the attention of fans back in Kenya with her detailed explanation of her awe-inspiring run to silver medal only on her maiden appearance on the global stage.
“I feel so blessed. Coming here to get experience, and I end up getting a personal best time. My aim was to reach the final, and then take it forward from there. In the last 100 metres, I saw myself getting a medal, so I pushed myself and it happened,” Ewoi said.
“In the last 400 metres, I told myself that I would push all the way to the finish line and if I can’t get a medal, I was going to get a huge personal best. I thought I had got the bronze, but I was shocked to learn that it was silver,” she said.
A day earlier in the semi-finals, cameras inside Tokyo National Stadium had her and Kipyegon as she celebrated her qualification for the final stage of the competition.
Afterwards, Ewoi paid glowing tribute to her idol Kipyegon, saying she was privileged to be competing in the same race as her. Yet she only made up her mind to compete in 1,500m this year.
Ewoi competed in 800m as a university student, but scaled up to the 1,500m early this year with the aim of reaching the 2025 World Athletics Championships final.
Gold medallist Faith Kipyegon (center) of Kenya celebrates on the podium along with silver medallist Dorcus Ewoi (left) and bronze medallist Jessica Hull of Australia during the women's 1,500m medal ceremony at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on September 17, 2025.
“This year, I competed indoors over 800 metres, and it didn’t go well due to the cold because it was winter time. My body was not adjusting quickly, so I added more mileage and stepped up to the 1,500m. Because 800m is a quick race, you only have two laps with little room for manoeuvring in case of mistakes. So I figured out that if I go to 1,500m, I could survive and get to the final as I had wanted, and things could take care of themselves. That is how I made that decision.
“I talked to my coaches and manager, and they told me to think about it. They told me ‘If you want to get to the final, we can do 1,500m. But if you want to run the 800m, it will take longer, and it is risky. My goal in Tokyo was to just make the final. I was not thinking of winning a medal here because I have never been to a world championship," Ewoi said.
Were it not for a hectic travel schedule, and the fact that she attained the Olympic standard time too close to the Kenyan trials for the Games, Ewoi would have made her maiden appearance for Kenya at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
In the run-up to the Kenyan trials for the 2024 Olympic Games, Ewoi attained the qualification standard in the 1,500m race, but she couldn’t travel to Kenya in time for the trials.
“I didn’t compete in the Kenyan trials. I attained the standard a few days to the trials and it would have been hectic to travel and expect to perform. The Kenyan trials were being held at altitude, while I was at low altitude in North Carolina. I didn’t want to just go to the Kenyan trials and get disappointed, so I stayed back, and got the standard for the 800m, and went back to training in preparation for the summer season,” she recalled.
