NAIROBI, Kenya, April 9, 2025 – Triple Olympic champion Religion Kipyegon and her ‘double’ counterpart, Beatrice Chebet, will face off for this yr’s Sportsperson of the 12 months Awards (SOYA).
The 2 are amongst 5 nominees within the sportswoman of the yr class, which additionally contains world marathon file holder Ruth Chepng’etich, Boston Marathon champion Hellen Obiri and Olympic 3000m steeplechase bronze medalist Religion Cherotich.
Final yr, Chebet loved her most profitable season so far, which included two world information, two Olympics titles and a profitable defence of the World Cross Nation crown.
All of it started in Belgrade, Serbia the place she clocked 31:05 to efficiently retain the title she gained a yr earlier in Bathurst, Australia.
She then set a world file of 28:54.14 within the ladies’s 10,000m on the Prefontaine Diamond League in Oregon, United States on Might 25.
Chebet then wrote her title in historical past books when she clocked 30:43.25 to win the ladies’s 10,000m on the Paris Olympics — changing into the primary Kenyan runner to win the race because it was launched to the quadrennial video games in 1988.
Her historic feat got here after she had gained the ladies’s 5000m on the similar video games clocking 14:28.56 to win the title final gained by Vivian Cheruiyot in 2016 in Rio.
Legacy of Kipyegon
On the similar time, Kipyegon recovered from a hamstring damage firstly of the season to get into her stride.
She warmed up for the Paris Olympics with a world file within the ‘metropolis of affection’ — clocking 3:49.04 to win the ladies’s 1500m on the Paris Diamond League.
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The 31-year-old then turned the primary athlete within the historical past of the ladies’s 1500m to win three consecutive Olympic titles, after clocking 3:51.29 on the video games.
This, so as to add to the silver she had earlier clinched within the ladies’s 5000m the place she timed 14:29.60.
Equally staking her declare to the SOYA high gong is Chepng’etich who turned the first-ever feminine marathoner to run a sub-2:10 when she clocked a world file of two:09:56 on the Chicago Marathon in October.
The 2019 World champion additionally gained the Buenos Aires Half Marathon after clocking 1:05:58.
In the meantime, Obiri continued her glamorous begin to life as a marathoner when she timed 2:22:37 to efficiently defend her Boston Marathon title in April.
She then added to her Olympics medal assortment with bronze in Paris, clocking 2:23:10 for third place.
On her first-ever Olympics look, teen Cherotich confirmed precisely why she is one to observe when she held her personal amongst extra skilled runners to bag bronze within the ladies’s 3000m steeplechase.
The 20-year-old clocked 8:55.15 to complete third — including to the bronze she gained a yr earlier on the World Championships in Budapest.
The awards are slated for slated for April 16 on the Kenyatta Worldwide Conference Centre (KICC).