Kenyan women break free from Covid-19 shackles to shine globally
From left: Australia's Abbey Caldwell, Kenya's Edinah Jebitok, Northern Ireland's Ciara Mageean, Turks and Caicos Islands' Courtney Missick and Australia's Jessica Hull compete during the women's 1500m final athletics event at the Alexander Stadium, in Birmingham on day ten of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, central England, on August 7, 2022.
What you need to know:
- Kenya collected 10 medals; two gold, five silver and three bronze from Oregon. From the collection, the women accounted for six medals; one gold medal, three silver and two bronze.
- At the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Kenya collected 19 medals; six gold, five silver and nine bronze. Kenyan women accounted for three gold medals, two silver and three bronze.
Compared to men, Kenyan women performed better at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon, and at the 2022 Africa Senior Athletics Championships held in Mauritius.
Kenya collected 10 medals; two gold, five silver and three bronze from Oregon. From the collection, the women accounted for six medals; one gold medal, three silver and two bronze.
At the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Kenya collected 19 medals; six gold, five silver and nine bronze. Kenyan women accounted for three gold medals, two silver and three bronze.
From left: Australia's Abbey Caldwell, Kenya's Edinah Jebitok, Northern Ireland's Ciara Mageean, Turks and Caicos Islands' Courtney Missick and Australia's Jessica Hull compete during the women's 1500m final athletics event at the Alexander Stadium, in Birmingham on day ten of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, central England, on August 7, 2022.
In Mauritius, Kenya topped the medal standings with 23 medals; 10 gold, five silver and eight bronze.
Out of the total, Kenyan women brought in five gold, three silver and four bronze medals.
Double Olympic Games champion, Faith Chepng’etich’s second world 1,500 metres title, and the athlete’s spirited run at the Diamond League meet in Monaco that saw her miss the world record by three tenths of a second were among the exceptional performances by Kenyan women in athletics this year.
On October 9, Ruth Chepng’etich also came close to breaking the world marathon record at the 2022 Chicago Marathon, only missing it by 14 seconds in yet another highlight performance by Kenyan women.
Kenyan women stood out at the June 8-12 African Senior Athletics Championships in Mauritius, the July 15-24 World Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA, and at the July 28 - August 8 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.
Kenya’s might was also felt in the World Marathon Majors, with Kenyan women winning three of the six greatest marathon races of the world. Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir triumphed in Boston Marathon, 2019 world marathon champion Ruth Chepng’etich triumphing in Chicago Marathon, and Sharon Lokedi winning the New York City Marathon.
From left: Sharon Lokedi of Kenya, Lonah Chemtal Salpeter of Israel, Gotytom Gebreslase of Ethiopia, and Hellen Obiri of Kenya compete in the Women's Professional Division of the TCS New York City Marathon on November 06, 2022 in New York City.
Kenyan women claimed six medals from the World Athletics Championships held from July 15 to 24 at Hayward Field in Oregon. A major visa hitch, and failure by some Kenyan athletes to meet the anti-doping requirements set out by World Athletics saw Sheila Chepkirui and Selah Jepleting fail to travel to Oregon. Chepkirui had finished second in 10,000m race at the national trials, while Jepleting won the 5,000m final.
Chepkirui failed to travel to Oregon owing to a visa hitch while Jepleting did not met some of the anti-doping requirements. The two athletes however made it to the Commonwealth Games.
Selah Jepleting celebrates after winning the women's 5,000 metres final at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani on June 25, 2022 in the Kenyan trials for the World Athletics Championships-cum-Commonwealth Games.
Faith Chepngétich gave Kenya her second and final gold medal in Oregon after winning a closely-contested women’s 1,500m final in three minutes and 52.96 seconds to reclaim the title she last won in 2017.
She improved on her silver medal performance from the 2019 edition of the championships held in Doha, where she finished behind Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan. In Oregon, Chepngétich beat Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay, who had won the World Indoor 1,500m title four months earlier in Serbia.
Gold medalist Faith Kipyegon of Team Kenya celebrates after competing in the Women's 1500m Final on day four of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 at Hayward Field on July 18, 2022 in Eugene, Oregon.
Hellen Obiri, who had won the world 5,000m title at the 2017 (London) and 2019 (Doha) World Championships, scaled up to the 10,000m race, claiming silver medal in Oregon after a fierce battle with the winner, Letesenbet Gidey from Ethiopia. Gidey timed 30:09.94 as Obiri clocked a personal best 30:10.02.
Margaret Chelimo, who had claimed silver medal over 5,000m in 2019 Doha World Athletics Championships, scaled up to 10,000m in Oregon to finish behind Obiri and claim bronze medal, also in personal best of 30:10.07.
Bronze medalist Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi of Kenya, gold medalist Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia and silver medalist Hellen Obiri of Kenya pose for a photo following the Women’s 10,000 Metres Final on day two of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 at Hayward Field on July 16, 2022 in Eugene, Oregon.
Youngster Beatrice Chebet, competing in her first world senior event, pushed Tsegay who had lost to Chepngétich in 1,500m final to the line before taking silver in the 5,000m final, clocking 14:46.75 against 14:46.29 registered by the Ethiopian.
In Oregon, 2022 Paris Marathon champion Judith Korir snatched a precious silver medal for Kenya over 42km. She had lost the battle to the late stages to Ethiopian Gotytom Gebreslase in personal best 2:18:20 as the Ethiopian chalked a championship record time of 2:18:11. The only other Kenyan in the race, Angela Tanui, came sixth in 2:22:15.
Race favourite and defending champion Ruth Chepng’etich who was chasing a double dropped out midway through the race after developing stomach problems.
Moraa, who was representing Kenya for the first time in 800m, having competed in 400m in 2019 World Championships in Doha, defied expectations to claim bronze in the two-lap race.
Moraa clocked personal best 1: 56.71 to lose the battle to Olympic 800m champion Athing Mu of the United States, who struck gold in 1:56.30 as Keely Hodgkinson from Britain timed 1:56.38 for bronze.
It was a drop in performance compared to the 2019 Doha world event where they amassed six medals; three gold, two silver and a bronze.
Mary Moraa of Kenya celebrates winning bronze in the Women's 800m Fina on day 10 of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 at Hayward Field on July 24, 2022 in Eugene, Oregon.
Kenya relinquished the 5,000m, marathon and 3,000m steeplechase titles as the country failed to win a medal in steeplechase for the first time in the history of the world event.
Kenyan-born Norah Jeruto of Kazakhstan won the title in a championship record time of 8:53.02.
However, the women's performance improved at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in England, the girls delivering eight of the 20 medals won by Kenya in athletics; three gold, two silver and three bronze. Kenya won a total of had 20 medals; six gold, five silver and nine bronze.
Right from her silver medal exploits in Oregon, Beatrice Chebet ensured Kenya retained the 5,000m title that Hellen Obiri had won at the 2018 edition held in Gold Coast, Australia.
Chebet clocked 14:38.21, crushing home athlete Eilish McColgan and compatriot Selah Jepleting, who settled for silver and bronze respectively. McColgan had also won the women’s 10,000m title.
Kenya's Beatrice Chebet celebrates winning and taking the gold medal in the women's 5000m final athletics event at the Alexander Stadium, in Birmingham on day ten of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, central England, on August 7, 2022.
Then Jackline Chepkoech made history by becoming the youngest athlete to win the Commonwealth Games women’s 3,000m steeplechase title at the age of 18.
In Birmingham, Chepkoech atoned for her poor performance days earlier in Oregon, where she had failed to reach the final of the water and barriers race on her debut.
In Birmingham, she won in a championship record and personal best time of 9:15.68. She relegated Briton Elizabeth Bird and Uganda's Olympic champion Peruth Chemutai to second and third places in 9:17.79 and 9:23.24 respectively.
Fresh from Oregon with a bronze, Moraa helped Kenya recapture the 800m title the country had relinquished in 2018 to South Africa's Caster Semenya.
Moraa restricted World 800m silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson from England to second place in 1:57.40 as World 1,500m bronze medallist Laura Muir from Scotland collected bronze in 1:57.87.
Kenya's Mary Moraa celebrates winning and taking the gold medal in the women's 800m final athletics event at the Alexander Stadium, on day nine of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, central England, on August 6, 2022.
There were low moments in the Kenyan camp when 2019 Standard Chartered Bank Nairobi Marathon champion Purity Changwony and 2021 Rotterdam Marathon champion Stella Barsosio were hounded out of the games after failing a drug test.
That left the 2020 Los Angeles Marathon champion Margaret Wangari to compete, and she delivered silver for Kenya, her maiden medal in a major championship.
Jessica Stenson became the sixth Australian woman to win a marathon race at the Commonwealth Games, clocking 2:27:31 to relegate Wangari to second place in 2:28:00.
Irene Cheptai and Sheila Chepkirui claimed silver and bronze medals in the 10,000m, losing the battle to McColgan.
Faith Chepng’etich, Mary Moraa and Beatrice Chebet were the most outstanding Kenyan women in the Diamond League Series.
Chepng’etich went on to win 1,500m race at the Monaco leg of the Diamond League in a national record time of 3: 3:50.37, missing the world record by just three tenths of a second.
It was the second fastest time in history of the women’s 1,500m race where Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba holds the world record of 3:50.07 set in Monaco in 2015.
Chepngétich would retain her Diamond League Trophy, winning in Zurich in 4:00.44 on September 8 as she got nominated for the 2022 Women’s World Athlete of the Year Award.
Moraa bagged her maiden 800m Diamond League trophy after winning at the finals in Zurich (1:57.63) but she also broke the national 400m record twice during the national trials before the World Athletics Championships, registering 50.84 in June at Kasarani Stadium, and 50.67 at Brussels Diamond League in September.
Kenya’s Ruth Chepng’etich missed the women's world record by 14 seconds when she retained her Chicago Marathon title in the second fastest time in history on October 9.
Chepng’etich, who had failed to finish her race in Oregon, was within Brigid Kosgei’s world record by almost five minutes at the 25th kilometre mark, and four seconds with just 2km to go, clocked personal best 2:14:18. Kosgei won the 2019 Chicago Marathon in a world record-breaking time of 2:14:04.
It was Chepng’etich’s seventh career victory in the marathon, beating her previous career best 2:17:08, a time she had just attained seven months earlier when winning the Nagoya Marathon on March 13 in Japan.
Kenya's Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir (2:21: 02) beat Ababel Yeshaneh from Ethiopia to win the Boston Marathon on April 18 . It was her second World Marathon Majors victory after her win at 2021 New York City.
Kenya’s Sharon Lokedi timed 2:23: 23 to win the New York City Marathon, becoming the eighth athlete in history to win a World Marathon Major on debut.
In many ways, 2022 Africa Senior Athletics Championships held June 8 to 12 in Mauritius set the stage for the World Athletics Championships and the Commonwealth Games.
Emily Ngii (20km walk race) and Winny Chebet (1,500m) retained their respective titles in Mauritius, with Jarinter Mawia (800m), Beatrice Chebet (5,000m) and Caroline Nyaga(10,000m) also handing the country titles in their races.
