US-based Kenyan athlete dies in tragic road accident

Joan Jepng'etich, a Kenyan student on a sports scholarship at Carl Sandburg College in Illinois, USA, died in a car accident in Chicago on Thursday, December 26.

Jepng'etich, 24, who was travelling with two other people, died on the spot while the other two occupants of the car were rushed to hospital, a family source in Kapsabet said.

Family spokesperson Thomas Meli told Nation Sport from the family home in Kapsabet, Nandi District, that Carl Sandburg College had informed the family that their daughter had been involved in a road accident.

"We received a call from the school last night (Thursday 26 December) informing us of the accident and asking us to wait for more information because they need to wait for a police report to get information on what really happened," Meli said on Friday, December 27.

Jepngetich, the youngest in a family of seven, went to the US in August 2023 on a scholarship. 

She started at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge, Iowa, before transferring to Carl Sandburg College in Illinois.

Kenyan coach John Kosgei, who has been training athletes at Kapsabet, said it was sad to lose such a vibrant student who was studying nursing while competing for her school.

Kosgei said that when Jepng'etich joined their training group, she showed self-discipline and was always focused on the task at hand.

"Jepng'etich was an easygoing athlete and she was always focused and that is why when she joined my group she did not finish a year before she managed to qualify for the scholarship programme and joined the institution after getting her travel visa in Mozambique," said Kosgei, who has seen more than 100 students join various universities in the US through his programme.

Tributes have poured in for the fallen hero, with many US-based athletes remembering her as one of the best athletes they have worked with in National Collegiate Athletic Association events, cross country, indoor and outdoor track.