Newly-crowned women’s 3,000 metres steeplechase world champion Faith Cherotich has set her sights on new targets after winning the event with a championships record time at the just-concluded World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan.
The women’s 3,000 metres steeplechase gold medal had eluded Kenya since 2019, when Beatrice Chepkoech was victorious at the Doha games.
The 21-year-old, who is also the 2022 World U20 champion, won the race in 8:51.59, dethroning Kenyan-born Bahraini Winfred Yavi, who won the 2023 World Athletics Championships title in Budapest, Hungary. Yavi, also the reigning Olympic champion, clocked 8:56.46 to finish second while Ethiopia’s Sembo Almayew (8:58.86) was third.
Cherotich said while she was under pressure going into the race, her intuition prepared her for a special performance, giving her the confidence to go for gold.
"I was able to find another gear in the last 200 metres to catch up with Yavi and power past her," said the youngster.
“I feel so proud to have achieved the target that I had set for myself going into the race. I was surprised when I clocked the championship record. I didn’t expect it and I am so happy to have achieved such a feat. This is just the beginning. I believe there is more to come from me in the near future,” Cherotich told Nation Sport from her home in Londiani, Kericho County.
Kenya's Faith Cherotich celebrates with the national flag after winning the women's 3000m Steeplechase final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on September 17, 2025.
Photo credit: Reuters
Achieving her new targets will come with more history and pride for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games bronze medallist.
She hopes to defend her title at the next World Athletics Championships in Beijing, China, in 2027, an achievement that will see her become the first woman to defend her world title in the event.
She also aims to win the gold medal in the event at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, US – a title that has eluded Kenya since the women’s 3,000 metres steeplechase was incorporated in the Olympic programme in 2008.
Kenya has won two silver medals (Eunice Jepkorir at Beijing 2008 and Hyvin Kiyeng at Rio 2016) and three bronze (Milcah Chemos at London 2012, Hyvin Kiyeng at Tokyo 2020, and Faith Cherotich at Paris 2024) in the event at the Olympic Games. However, two Kenyan-born Bahrainis – Ruth Jebet in 2016 and Yavi in 2024 – have won gold at the Olympics.
Cherotich also hopes to break the women’s world record in the race, which is currently held by Kenya's Beatrice Chepkoech, who clocked 8:44.32 in Monaco on July 20, 2018.
To achieve this, Cherotich must improve her personal best time – 8:48.71, set when she finished second in the 2025 Prefontaine Classic in Oregon on July 5 – by over four seconds. It is a target she considers achievable with a good plan that will see her improve her performance gradually as she builds momentum for achieving her three targets.
“The world record is achievable. I will sit with my coach to make a proper plan for executing it in future,” Cherotich said.
She added: "But I'm not in a hurry to go for the record. Anybody can break it. For now, I will focus on my off-season before I resume training gradually."
Cherotich’s new targets will intensify the rivalry between her and Yavi, against whom she has so far competed 14 times. Yavi finished ahead of Cherotich eight times in their first nine contests. Yavi won six of those races – her 2023 Diamond League wins and gold medal victories at Budapest 2023 and Paris 2024.
Still, Cherotich performed with admirable consistency in the period she played second fiddle to Yavi. She did not finish lower than fourth in those nine races, finishing third in five of them.
Faith Cherotich (centre) with her parents, Joseph Kipkemoi Keter and Ann Keter, at their home on October 15, 2024.
Photo credit: Jared Nyataya | Nation Media Group
Those third-place finishes include her bronze medals at Budapest 2023 and Paris 2024, events that saw Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech and Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai bag the silver medals respectively. Impressively, Cherotich was a Form Four student at Sugutek Secondary in Kericho when she won bronze in Budapest.
Those performances attest to her consistency and focus, and her aspiration to emulate her idol, 1,500 metres queen Faith Kipyegon.
In her last five contests against Yavi, Cherotich turned that consistency and focus into evidence that her time to conquer the world had arrived.
“I had planned so well for that race and I wanted to win it,” she said of her 2024 Diamond League win in Brussels, Belgium, an achievement that followed her 2024 Paris Olympics bronze medal win.
The exception was when Yavi beat her at the Prefontaine Classic in Oregon in July, when she finished second with a personal best time of 8:48.71.
Even with the success she has enjoyed so far, Cherotich looks up to her supportive parents – Joseph Kipkemoi and Ann Keter – for guidance, inspiration, and motivation. She dedicated her Tokyo 2025 gold medal to them.
“I dedicate my gold medal to my parents. They have been supporting me morally, emotionally and even spiritually. When you get into the race, it’s like a war. Everyone is ready to go hard,” Cherotich said.
Cherotich also paid tribute to her coach Bernard Rono, who has guided her since she started running. She considers him one of the best coaches she has ever had in terms of coaching techniques.
