Below are the highlights of Kenyan athletics in 2025.
1. Kenyan women win all gold medals from 800m to marathon at Tokyo 25 world championships
The biggest sporting moments of 2025 took place at the 25 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September. It was a great moment for the Kenyan women to show their prowess and fast-growing dominance in athletics as they won all the gold medals in the middle, distance and road races at the championships. Beatrice Chebet won two gold medals (5000m and 10000m), Lilian Odira won the 800m, Faith Kipyegon won the 1500m, Faith Cherotic won the 3000m and Peres Jepchirchir won the marathon gold medal.
2. Kenyan men dominating world marathon majors.
They may have lost their grip on the middle and long distances on the track, but the Kenyan men showed they still rule the marathons. Sebastian Sow, in his marathon debut, won the London Marathon in a historic time of 2:02:27, promising Kenyans a dominating marathon future. He repeated another major marathon victory at the Berlin Marathon, where he also ran 2:02:16, despite unusual weather conditions that day.
John Korir won the Boston Marathon in April, while Benson Kipruto won the New York Marathon in November. Kenyan men won four of the seven WMM titles this year.
April 21, 2025
Boston, Massachusetts, USA, photo by Kevin Morris
3. Beatrice Chebet and Faith Kipyegon set world records in Eugene
From gold medals to fast times, Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet was a phenomenon in 2025. Her impressive run came at the Prefontaine Classic, where she became the first woman ever to run a 5000m race under 14 minutes in 13:58.06. It was a thrilling race between her and the previous world record holder, which was decided on the last lap when Chebet made a devastating finish that saw Gudaf Tsegai fade away, allowing another Kenyan, Agnes Ngetich, to overtake her for second place.
Faith Kipyegon made it a really great day for the Kenyans when she also ran a dominant 1500m, lowering her world record to 3:48.68.
4. Three teams qualified for the World Athletics Championships
Kenya did very well at the World Relays in Guangzhou, securing a bronze medal in the men’s 4x400m relay and qualifying for the World Championships in that and two other events, the 4x400m medley and the men’s 4x100m.
This marked a new chapter in Kenyan athletics as the country showed fruition on a new front; sprint events. Individual runners such as Ferdinand Omanyala, Mercy Oketch, Wiseman Mukhobe, Brian Tinega, Kevin Kipkorir and George Mutinda also qualified for the individual sprint events in Tokyo.
5. Agnes Ngetić, who holds the women’s 10K world record, breaking the women’s only 10K world record.
In April, and in another proud moment for Kenyan sports fans, Agnes Ngetich simplified the terms used to describe various women’s world records in running. The women’s 10K world record holder of 28:46 also set a women’s only world record, running 29:27 at the Adizero Road to Records event in Germany. She is now the sole world record holder in the women’s 10K event.
As we begin the new year, it will be interesting to see Kenyan athletes again produce more memorable moments, starting with the World Championships on January 10.
