Kenyan Olympic long-distance runner, Agnes Tirop has been found stabbed to death in her home in Iten, eastern Kenya.
Kenya’s President described her as a national “hero” and implored police to bring those responsible to justice. Tirop had won bronze medals in the 10,000-metre event at two world championships.
Athletics Kenya initially reported her death on Wednesday.
The 25-year-old twice won bronze medals at World Championships in the 10,000 metres.
She represented Kenya in the 5,000m event at the Tokyo Olympics and finished fourth in the finals after clocking a time of 14:39.62 behind Dutch gold medallist, Sifan Hassan; fellow Kenyan, Hellen Obirio and Ethiopian bronze medallist, Gudaf Tsegay.
Police have now opened an investigation into her death and say her husband is missing and a suspect. “When (Police) got in the house, they found Tirop on the bed and there was a pool of blood on the floor,” head of the local police force, Tom Makori said.
“They saw she had been stabbed in the neck, which led us to believe it was a knife wound, and we believe that is what caused her death.
“Her husband is still at large, and preliminary investigations tell us her husband is a suspect because he cannot be found. Police are trying to find her husband so he can explain what happened to Tirop.”
Tirop had enjoyed a glittering career up until her death, and she had just last month smashed the women-only 10km world record in Germany, crossing the line in 30:01 to shave 28 seconds from the previous record held by Morocco’s Asmae Leghzaoui from 2002.
Tirop won bronze medals at the 2017 and 2019 World Championships in the 10,000m events, and also won the 2015 World Cross Country Championships as a 19-year-old, becoming the youngest woman to win the event.
Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta led the tributes but also called for her killer to be brought to justice. “It is even more painful that Agnes, a Kenyan hero by all measures, painfully lost her young life through a criminal act perpetrated by selfish and cowardly people,” Mr Kenyatta said in a statement.
“I urge our law enforcement agencies led by the National Police Service to track down and apprehend the criminals responsible for the killing of Agnes.”
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