The death of marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum on February 12 was a big blow to athletics in Kenya and around the world, but local athletes picked up the pieces and ruled the world with top performances across the board.
Faith Kipyegon, Beatrice Chebet and Emmanuel Wanyonyi lent colour to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Kipyegon and Chebet are also among seven Kenyans who set world records in their respective fields.
Long distance runners Ruth Chepng’etich, Agnes Jebet Ng’etich, Peres Jepchirchir and Mary Moraa took the world of road running by storm by breaking world records, and Hellen Obir’s star continued to rise in the marathon.
Kipyegon, 30, shattered her own 1,500 metres world record at the FBK Games in Hengelo, the Netherlands on July 7 this year.
Kipyegon warmed up to her third Olympic title, obliterating her previous record set slightly over a year ago by seven hundredths of a second, winning in a blistering three minutes and 49.04 seconds.
Kipyegon had claimed the world record for the first time on June 2, last year in Florence, Italy, winning in 3:49.11, to erase the previous time of 3:50.07 which Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba had set on July 17, 2015.
At the Paris Olympics, after initially claiming silver medal in women’s 5,000m, Kipyegon was disqualified for obstructing Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay.
Team Kenya’s management successfully appealed the decision, and Kipyegon’s silver was reinstated as her compatriot Chebet claimed gold. In Paris, Kipyegon entered the history books , becoming the first woman to win the Olympics 1,500m title for the third straight time.
She also broke her own Olympic record, winning in a new time of 3:51.29. She out-sprinted silver and bronze medallists Jessica Hull and Georgia Bell to win by 1.27 seconds.
Kipyegon, who is also the first woman to have won women’s 1,500m world title thrice (in 2017, 2022 and in 2023), claimed an unprecedented five Diamond League titles in the distance, winning the final in Brussels in a meeting record of 3:54.75 on September 14.
She had previously won in 2017 and back-to-back from 2021 to 2024, making her the only other Kenyan woman to have won a Diamond League trophy besides Nancy Jebet Lagat, the inaugural winner in 2010.
Kipyegon also won the first edition of Athlos, an all-woman track and field meeting at Icahn Stadium in New York City on September 26.
Chebet claimed a historic double in 10,000m and 5,000m at the Paris Olympics. She had warmed up to the Olympics with a world record in 10,000m at the Prefontaine Classic on May 25 in Oregon, USA. Chebet, 24, clocked a blistering 28:55.14 to win, breaking the previous record of 29:01.03 which Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia had 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.
Chebet clocked 14:28.56 to lift the Olympics 5,000m title, beating defending champion Sifan Hassan, and reigning world champion Kipyegon.
She went on to win the 10,000m in 30:43.25, becoming the first Kenyan to achieve the feat. On September 5, Chebet attempted to break the 5,000m world record of 14:00.21 which Gudaf Tsegay had set in 2023 in Zurich.
She was aiming to be the first woman to run under 14 minutes. Chebet didn’t break the record, but she won the race in a world leading time and a meeting record of 14:09.52.
Chebet reclaimed the 5,000m Diamond League title, winning the final in Brussels, Belgium, in 14:09.82. She had started the season with a successful defence of her World Athletics Cross Country title on March 30 in Belgrade, Serbia.
The achievements earned Chebet and Kipyegon nomination for the 2024 World Athletics Women’s Track Athlete of the Year, but they failed to make the final.
Then came Wanyonyi, the rising star of the two-lap race, who ensured that Kenya retained the Olympic 800m title for the fifth successive time besides retaining his Diamond League Trophy in 800m.
The 20-year-old broke the world road mile record with a time of 3:54.56 at the Adizero Road to Records event in Herzogenaurach, Germany, in April, erasing the previous record of 3:56.13 set by American Hobbs Kessler.
Kessler finished second to Wanyonyi in a time of 3:56.18. Wanyonyi's record has since been broken by British athlete Elliot Giles, who ran 3:51.3 in September.
Wanyonyi rocked the Kenyan trials for Paris Olympics, winning in 1:41.70, which was the third fastest performance ever over 800m behind Wilson Kipketer (1:41.11) and David Rudisha’s world record of 1:40.91.
Wanyonyi, 20, won gold at Paris Olympics in a time of 1:41.19, surpassing Djamel Sedjati’s 1:41.46 from Monaco to reclaim his place as the third fastest man in history over the distance after Kipketer and Rudisha.
Wanyonyi would improve his career best by 0.08 seconds to 1:41.11 when he retained his Diamond League crown in Lausanne Diamond on August 22. That saw him tie with Kipketer for second place in the all-time 800m list, and only behind Rudisha.
Chepng’etich, the 2019 world marathon champion, redefined women’s marathon running with a record-breaking run on October 13 in Chicago. Chepng'etich, 30 set a world record in the marathon, with a time of 2:09:56, breaking Tigst Assefa's previous world record of 2:11:53 from 2023 Berlin Marathon by almost two minutes in a time of 2:09:56.
Chepng’etich became the first woman to run faster than 2:11 and 2:10 in the marathon as she dedicated her victory to the late Kiptum, who died on February 11 this year.
John Korir kept men’s title in Kenya in honour of Kiptum, winning in 2:02:43, the second fastest time on the course, just after Kiptum’s world record.
Kiptum ran a blistering new marathon world record time of 2:00:35 in Chicago last year and was planning a sub two-hour time in Rotterdam in April.
Ng’etich set two world records for the 10km and 5km in a mixed-gender race, winning the 10K Valencia Ibercaja race on January 14.
Ngetich clocked 28:46, becoming the first woman to break the 29-minute barrier, on the roads or track and also improved the world record for the 5km, running through the 5km checkpoint in 14:13, six seconds faster than the previous record set by Ethiopia’s Ejgayehu Taye in 2021.
Jepchirchir tore the London Marathon course to shreds for a women-only marathon world record, winning in 2:16:16 in April. The women-only world record is the world record for the fastest time by a female marathon runner without using male pace makers.
Moraa (1:57.42), the reigning world 800m, settled for bronze in 800m at the Paris Olympic Games as Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson (1:56.72) won, followed by Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma (1:57.15) . Moraa, 24, went on to set a new world record over 600m, running 1:21.63 in Berlin on September 1 to break Caster Semenya’s previous record of 1:21.77 set at the same arena on August 27, 2017.
Obiri retained her Boston Marathon title, winning in 2:22:37 in April, leading a Kenyan podium sweep with Sharon Lokedi (2:22:45) and Edna Kiplagat (2:23:21) taking the other positions.
However, Obiri, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro and 2020 Tokyo 5,000m silver medallist, settled for bronze in women's marathon at the Paris Olympics in 2:23:10 as Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands claimed gold in an Olympic record of 2:22:55 with Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa clocking 2:22:58 for silver.
Benson Kipruto also settled for bronze in marathon at Paris Olympics, his first appearance at the Summer Games in 2:07:00 in a race where Ethiopian Tamirat Tola claimed gold in an Olympic record time of 2:06:26, breaking the late Samuel Wanjiru’s previous records of 2:06:32 from 2008 Beijing.
