- Kenyan female athletes had an excellent season that saw them break world records in different parts of the globe.
- Ruth Chepngetich’s marathon (mixed) world record is the most recent one.
- Agnes Jebet Ngetich broke two of these world records in the same race.
Kenyan athletes have registered some impressive performances this year on and off the track in different regions of the world.
From the World Athletics Cross Country Championships staged in Belgrade, Serbia to the Paris Olympic Games, these athletes proved exactly why the country is considered a running hotbed.
Besides raising the country’s flag high in international events, several of them entered their names into history books by breaking world records that most people believed would remain untouched for many years to come.
SportPesa Blog takes a look at all the seven world records that were set by Kenyan female athletes in 2024.
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Beatrice Chebet
Beatrice Chebet produced a remarkable display at the 2024 Prefontaine Classic held in the United States to set a new 10000m world record.
In a race where Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay wanted to attack the world record, Chebet took matters into her own hands with three laps to go and never looked back.
She went on to cross the finishing line in 28:54.14, lowering the previous mark of 29:01.03 that was set by Gudaf’s compatriot Letesenbet Gidey in 2021.
Chebet also became the first woman ever to run a 10000m discipline in less than 29 minutes in that memorable race.
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Peres Chepchirchir
Former Olympic Games champion Peres Chepchirchir lowered the women’s only marathon record at the 2024 London Marathon.
Chepchirchir outpaced a deep field that had the likes of Tigst Assefa and went on to win the title in an outstanding time of 2:16.16.
Her time was more than 40 seconds faster than the previous world record of 2:17.01 that was set by her fellow countrywoman Mary Keitany at the same event in 2017.
Faith Kipyegon
A few weeks after overcoming an injury, Faith Kipyegon erased her 1500m world record on July 24, 2024 at the Paris Diamond League.
Kipyegon crossed the finishing line in 3:49.04 to improve the previous world record of 3:49.11 that she had set at the 2023 Florence Diamond League by 0.07 seconds.
Prior to her display in Florence, the 1500m world record was being held by Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba, who clocked 3:50.07 in 2015.
Agnes Jebet Ngetich
Iten-based runner Agnes Jebet Ngetich broke two world records in the same race on Sunday, January 14, 2024.
Ngetich obliterated the field at the 10K Valencia Ibercaja to set a new 10km road (mixed) world record of 28:46.
Her time was 28 seconds faster than the previous world record that was set by Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw in 2022.
In addition, Ngetich improved the 5km road (mixed) world record (14:13) that belonged to Ejgayehu Taye of Ethiopia by six seconds. Taye had set the above mark in 2021 in Barcelona.
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Mary Moraa
The reigning 800m world champion Mary Moraa set a new 600m world record on September 1 at the ISTAF event in Berlin, Germany.
She produced a brilliant performance that saw her stop the clock at 1:21:63 and in the process broke the previous world record of 1:21:77 that was set by South Africa’s Caster Semenya in 2017.
Ruth Chepngetich
Finally, Ruth Chepngetich ran the race of her life to destroy the women’s marathon (mixed) world record at the 2024 Chicago Marathon on Sunday, October 13.
The mother of one crossed the finishing line in 2:09.56 to lower the former mark of 2:11.53 that was set by Assefa in the 2023 Berlin edition.
Chepngetich’s world record was ratified a few days ago by the Word Athletics, less than two months after it was set.