Paul Ereng called me up just over a week ago and made a passionate appeal: “We have a Kenyan athlete over here in the US doing very well in athletics and I really wanted you to write her story.”
Now, coming from Ereng, a legend, Kenya’s first Olympic gold medallist in the 800 metres (Seoul 1988), that was humbling.
The athlete Ereng was referring to is Winny Chepng’etich Bii, a fast-rising jumper who on February 1 shattered the Kenyan national triple jump record at an indoor meet in New Mexico.
“She’s something else,” Starehe Boys alumnus Ereng went on during our telephone conversation as he waited to take the two-hour flight from Albuquerque in New Mexico to Austin, Texas.
He was in the company of Bii who was fresh from, yet again, shattering the Kenyan triple jump record with a winning leap of 13.92 metres at the indoor New Mexico Team Open Championships at the Convention Centre. And even then, just at “70 percent fitness levels”, still nursing a long-term hamstring injury!
From Austin, Ereng and his charges would then make a one-hour road trip to the Texas A&M University at College Station where the Kenyan legend is Assistant Head Coach handling distance runners alongside 400 metres athletes.
Before joining the Texas A&M University, Ereng, also a two-time world indoor 800 metres champion (Budapest 1989; Sevilla 1991), was on the coaching staff of the track and field team at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) where he honed the skills of, inter alia, Tokyo Olympics 800 metres champion Emmanuel Korir.
“The way (Ferdinand) Omanyala has broken the stereotypes and shown that Kenya is not all distance running but has sprints potential too, this girl (Bii) is going to be big in the field events,” Ereng described the 21-year-old fledgling star.
Bii made her breakthrough to US collegiate athletics through the vibrant “Town Hall” talent development initiative driven by a passionate team led by, among others, William Kipkoech, Silas Kiplagat and Brigid Chebet, that scouts for talented Kenyan athletes who subsequently earn athletics scholarships in the US.
Kenya's Winny Bii of Texas A&M University (facing camera) is congratulated after breaking the Kenya national triple jump record with a jump of 13.92 metres in New Mexico on February 1, 2025.
Photo credit: Pool
Kipkoech narrated how he got interested in young Bii during her first major global competition at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Cali, Colombia, in 2022, before she bagged her first medal at the 2023 African Games in Accra, leaping to silver in the triple jump (13.64m).
“I began conversing with Winny in Cali, Colombia, after her plans to train with Puma were foiled by inexperienced coaches,” Kipkoech explains.
“As a field event athlete, I was surprised by the coaches' response. However, after discussing Winny's potential with Oklahoma State University’s coach Zivile (Pukstas) and sharing her impressive videos, the coach became interested.”
He notes that recruiting Bii “was an easy decision, given her numerous advantages,” describing the jumper as “a determined and self-driven individual who will stop at nothing to achieve her goals.”
Kipkoech argues that Bii’s impressive jump of 13.92 metres at such an early stage suggests she will soon join the elite 14-metre club.
“While I initially focused on college athletics' technical aspects, Winny possesses the necessary speed and talent to excel.”
He also points at other US-based student national record holders Irene Jepkemboi, Zeddy Chongwo, and Rukia Nusra as rising stars to look out for as “they are now free from pressure.”
Last year, Texas Christian University student Jepkemboi broke the Kenyan javelin record with a throw of 57.23m, eclipsing Cecilia Kiplagat’s previous mark of 53.58m.
Also last year, Chongwo, a fresher at Oklahoma State University equalled her national high jump record by clearing 1.75m at an Athletics Kenya meeting while Akron University’s Nusra, 23, holds the national 60m hurdles (8.68 seconds) and 100m hurdles (13.67) records, times clocked last year.
And just a week ago, she improved the 60m mark to 8.45 seconds at the NCAA Michigan Invitational Meet.
“It's time for us to shine in these new territories, with these young women leading the way. The future is promising for these rising stars,” adds Kipkoech.
“As the Town Hall Group, we emphasize education's importance. Alongside Brigid Chebet, Silas Kiplagat, media personnel, and coaches, our philosophy is that education comes first. We teach athletes the value of investing in long-term goals over short-term ones.”
Bii transferred from Oklahoma State University to Texas A&M University last fall, joining Ereng and three other Kenyan athletes at College Station, namely Victor Kibiego (an eight-minute-22-seconds steeplechaser), Gilbert Rono (a three-minute-37-second 1,500 runner) and miler Deborah Cherono.
“Winny stands out first because she is talented. Also, she is a hard worker,” Ereng observes.
“I can say Winny is a good student who listens and takes the given instructions. She also asks questions if something is unclear.
“Winny has a bright future. I see her breaking this Kenya record in the triple jump many more times. A 14-metre jump is pretty close for her currently.
“Here at Texas A&M University, she has all the technical and material support that she needs to achieve whatever she wants.”
Bii is also currently jumping over six metres in the long jump, but her sights are fixed firmly on working on her triple jump technique and joining the 14-metre league.
After taking a month’s Christmas break with her family in Kericho last December, Bii had to fight off a hamstring injury last month to get into the groove.
“My first meeting this year at Texas Tech University wasn’t good… I was still battling the hamstring injury and jumped 13.38m,” Bii tells me, having been handed the phone by Ereng as they wait to board their Texas-bound flight.
“I’m still not at 100 per cent… I’m perhaps at 70 per cent. The physios worked on me. We have good trainers who helped me recover,” she explains.
“My dream is to join the 14-metre club and make it to Kenya’s team to the Tokyo World Championships in September.”
Last week, Bii cleared another impressive mark of 13.82m for her third-consecutive triple jump title at the home Charlie Thomas Invitational Meet.
To make it to the national indoor college championships, athletes have to basically qualify from Conference level by being in the top 16 nationally.
Bii is currently second in the rankings with her 13.92m, behind leader, Latvia’s Ruta Lasmane (13.97m) of Texas Tech University.
However, Lasmane - the 2019 European Under-20 champion who placed 22nd overall (13.76m) at the Paris Olympics - raptured her Achilles last week in training and will be out of action for a while.
Bii is positive and plans on working on elements of her technique, motivated by her record-breaking leap in New Mexico.
She needs a leap of 14.55 metres outdoors to qualify for the World Championships in Tokyo this September.
“My plan in New Mexico was not to jump that much (13.92m) as it’s still early in the season. I was planning to jump 13.50m, but my coach (Mario Sategna) was like ‘the runway is good and you can go beyond 13.50.’
“He encouraged me a lot, and my first jump was 13.71m and he was like, ‘now go for 14 metres!’
“My third phase of the triple jump is so bad and I now just have to fix it. It’s too short. I know if I can fix it, I will clear 14 metres soon,” she hopes.
“It’s a mental thing… I used to see jumping 13 metres as some sort of miracle but once I cleared 13 metres, I started aiming for 13.50 and now I see 14 metres is not a nightmare after all.”
Interestingly, Bii – a student in Business in Sports Management at Texas A&M -- started off as a track athlete in her high school days at Kericho Day Secondary School, her family having settled at Kipsitet in Kericho County.
“In high school I was running for fun, just to get bread and soda,” she jokes. “I also jumped a bit.”
“When in Form Four in 2020, we were to go for the regional championships but Covid-19 broke out and I completed my high school.
“Though I was doing some jumps, my passion was in the 400m and 800m but my coach then encouraged me to jump with a view to getting me a slot in the National Police Service.”
Bii, whose younger sister Millicent Chelang’at Bii is a 2:05 800m runner, was then taken under the wings of coaches Caroline Kola and Perpertual Mbutu and her passion for the jumps enhanced.
It was then that she was told about the US scholarship programmes while staying with coach Mbutu at Nairobi’s Roysambu.
They travelled together for a youth camp in Miramas, Southern France, from where she launched into Oklahoma State University, also encouraged by another US collegiate hurdler, Alocias Kipng’etich, who was also in Kenya’s team to Cali.
“Winny is at the right place. With a population of over 75,000 students, Texas A&M (Agriculture and Technology) University is one of the biggest universities in the US, built on over 5,500 acres and with some of the best sports facilities,” Ereng pitches his College Station base.
“We also have an airport that can land a Boeing 747 and World Athletics certified indoor and outdoor tracks.”
Ereng, 58, sees US collegiate athletics getting back the spark of the 1980s when he ran for the University of Virginia.
“It’s now going back to the 80s when the professional running stars were from the universities. We have kids running 4:48 for the mile and 7:30 for the 3,000 metres. For college level, this is very good! They (US universities) have invested a lot in facilities, technology and coaching methods.”
And certainly, with such support, the future can only be brighter for Bii who almost broke into tears after her gargantuan leap in New Mexico.
“Sometimes good things come when you least expect… I was merely listening to my coach and paying attention to the small details and it’s after jumping and seeing the (13.92m) mark on the screen, I couldn’t believe it!,” she reflects before jumping onto the flight to Texas.
“I didn’t expect it, but now I’m pumped up for the future.”
