The athletics world is mourning the passing of Agnes Jebet Tirop, a 25-year-old Olympian with the world at her feet.This tragic news has been confirmed by an Athletics Kenya statement
“Kenya has lost a jewel who was one the the fastest-rising athletics giants on the international stage, thanks to her eye-catching performances on the track.!
Agnes Jebet Tirop was a two-time World Championship bronze medallist and this morning was found dead in her apartment at Elgeyo Marakwet County, Kenya. Reports suggest that Tirop was found with multiple stab wounds to her abdomen.
We are this afternoon distraught to learn about the untimely death of World 10,000m bronze medalist Agnes Jebet Tirop. pic.twitter.com/eJ02x4YRR2
— Athletics Kenya (@athletics_kenya) October 13, 2021
Just last month, Tirop smashed the women’s 10k world record. The 25-year-old, two-time bronze world champion medallist over 5000m, set the new world record time of 30:01 at the Road to Records event hosted in Herzogenaurach, Germany. The old record of 30:29, held by Asmae Leghzaoui of Morocco, had stood since 2002.
Finishing the weekend on a high 🎉🥳
Agnes Jebet Tirop 🇰🇪 smashes the women’s 10k world record (for a women-only race) in a time of 30:01 at the #adizero Road to Records event!
Kongole 👏👏#TeamKenya#YouAreTheReason pic.twitter.com/zv4LtoUNF2— TeamKenya (@OlympicsKe) September 12, 2021
Tirop, finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympic Games in the 5000M. She finished just being Gudaf Tsegay with a season’s best of 14:39.62. Tirop was just 10 days away from her 26th birthday before her passing.
She rose to prominence in 2012 when she finished runner-up at the Kenyan Cross Country Championships. At the age of 19, she went on to become the youngest winner of the World Cross Country Championship since Zola Budd in 1985.
We are this afternoon distraught to learn about the untimely death of World 10,000m bronze medalist Agnes Jebet Tirop. pic.twitter.com/eJ02x4YRR2
— Athletics Kenya (@athletics_kenya) October 13, 2021