"Lost a jewel": Olympic runner found stabbed in her home
Kenyan long-distance runner Agnes Tirop was found dead in her home at the age of 25, according to a statement released by Athletics Kenya on Wednesday.
She was found with stab wounds in her abdomen, and her husband was missing. Athletics Kenya said it was still working to unearth more details surrounding her death.
The athlete won bronze in the 10,000m at the 2017 and 2019 World Championships, and finished 4th in the 5000m at the Tokyo Olympic Games earlier this year.
Tirop made history last month by shaving 28 seconds off the long-standing, women-only world record for 10,000m at the Adizero Road to Records event in Germany. She finished in 30:01, breaking the previous record of 30:29 which had been set by Moroccan Asmae Leghzaoui in 2002.
Following the win, Agnes told reporters, “I’m so happy to have broken the world record. I felt the pace was good. The course was very good, too.”
At the 2015 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, she became the second-youngest ever gold medallist in the women’s race, after South African athlete 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, “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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