Gladys Chepngetich has broken the Kenyan indoor 800 metres record.
The 24-year-old, who is based in the United States, achieved this feat as she finished third in 1:58.81 at the 2026 John Thomas Terrier Classic in Boston, Massachusetts, on Friday, breaking the previous record of one minute and 58.83 seconds held by Pamela Jelimo.
Jelimo, the 2008 Olympic 800 metres champion, had held the record for 13 years, six months and 15 days before Chepngetich, a Clemson University student, broke it. Chepngetich trailed race winner British Isabelle Boffey, who won in 1:57.43, followed by American Roisin Willis in 1:57.97.
Chepngetich made history as the third Kenyan woman to run 800m under two minutes, after Jelimo set a national record of 1:58.83 when winning the World Indoor 800m title in Istanbul, Turkey, on March 11, 2012.
Vivian Chebet ran 1:59.65 in the semi-finals of the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships at the Glasgow Arena in Scotland, before finishing fourth in the final in 2:03.76, with Tsige Duguma of Ethiopia taking first place in 2:01.90.
Based on her performance, Chepngetich is now a strong candidate for selection to Team Kenya for the World Athletics Indoor Championships, which are scheduled to take place from March 20 to 22 at the Kujawsko-Pomorska Arena in Toruń, Poland.
Meanwhile, Africa’s fastest man, Ferdinand Omanyala, struggled once again at the World Indoor Tour, finishing eighth in the men’s 60 metres at the Elite Indoor Track Meeting in Miramas, France, on Friday. Omanyala, the 100m champion at the Commonwealth Games, clocked 6.86 seconds — his slowest time since he debuted in indoor games in 2021. Jesus Orphee Topize, from Mauritius, won in 6.70 seconds.
Omanyala, who last won the Miramas event in 2024 with a time of 6.52, also failed to reclaim the Paris Indoor title on Sunday, finishing fourth in 6.77. Ali Al Balushi of Oman won the event with a time of 6.60.
Omanyala previously won in Paris in 2024 with a new national record time of 6.51 seconds. He will compete in Moscow for the first time at the Indoor Meeting on February 7, before moving on to the Belgrade Indoor Meeting at Atletska dvorana on February 11.
However, World Athletics has only allocated Kenya six slots for the Championships, prompting Athletics Kenya to cancel the national trials planned for this weekend.
