Agnes Jebet Tirop (25) was found dead in her home in Iten, Kenya with stab wounds on her neck on October 13, 10 days to her 26th birthday.

Tirop has participated in many international championships including the 2020 Olympics which took place in July 2021 in Tokyo.

She won two bronze medals in 10,000m at the World Athletics Championships in 2017 and 2019, and came fourth in the 5,000m at the Tokyo Olympics.

Related post: CAF poses a hefty disciplinary action against Tanzania’s teams

She broke the record and became the youngest woman to get World cross-country Championships gold medal in 2015 at the age of 19 since Zola Budd of South Africa in 1985.

Her husband, Emmanuel Rotich who is the main suspect as arrested in Mombasa trying to flee the country.

“Athletics has lost one of its brightest young stars in the most tragic circumstances,” said the World Athletics President Sebastian Coe.

On September 12th, Tirop crushed the all-women 10K world record at 30:01 minutes. “I am so happy to break the world record. The pace was tough but I felt my body was responding well,” were her words after finishing the race.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has ordered a quick investigation on the case.

Related post: Corruption: African leaders got inked in the Pandora Papers