Kenyan long-distance runner Agnes Tirop, who represented her country at the recent Tokyo Olympics, has died aged 25, Athletics Kenya (AK) announced in a statement on Wednesday.
According to the country’s athletics body, Tirop was found dead at her home in Iten, after she was “allegedly stabbed.”
Local reports state Tirop was found dead with stab wounds in her abdomen. Athletics Kenya said it was “still working to unearth more details surrounding her demise.”
Tirop’s agent — Gianni Demadonna — also confirmed her passing by e-mail to CNN.
Keiyo North police commander Tom Makori told AFP that Tirop’s husband Emmanuel Rotich was a “man of interest” in the case and was the subject of a police hunt.
“He can tell us what happened,” Makori said.
“The suspect had made a call to Tirop’s parents saying that he’d committed something wrong. So we believe he knows what happened.”
The 25-year-old won bronze medals in the 10,000m at the 2017 and 2019 World Championships and finished 4th in the 5,000m at the Tokyo Games.
Last month, Tirop made history by taking 28 seconds off the long-standing, women-only world record for 10km at the Adizero Road To Records event in Germany.
Tirop finished in a time of 30:01 breaking the previous record of 30:29 which had been set by Moroccan Asmae Leghzaoui in 2002.
Following the race, she said: “I’m so happy to have broken the world record. I felt the pace was good. The course was very good, too.”
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At the 2015 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, Tirop became the second-youngest ever gold medalist in the women’s race after Zola Budd.
Athletics Kenya said the country had “lost a jewel who was one of the fastest-rising athletics giants on the international stage, thanks to her eye-catching performances.”
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta also paid tribute, saying in a statement: “It is unsettling, utterly unfortunate and very sad that we’ve lost a young and promising athlete who, at a young age of 25 years, she had brought our country so much glory through her exploits on the global athletics stage including in this year’s 2020 Tokyo Olympics where she was part of the Kenyan team in Japan.”
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