Agnes Tirop: Police arrest husband of Kenyan athlete after distance runner found dead

ByHarry Latham Coyle

Updated 15/10/2021 at 07:58 GMT

The two-time World Championship bronze medallist was found with stab wounds in her neck on Wednesday. Her husband, Emmanuel Rotich, had gone missing but was arrested in the coastal city of Mombasa on Thursday after reportedly trying to flee the east African country. Tirop finished fourth in the 5,000m at Tokyo 2020.

Police in Kenya have arrested the husband of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was found dead on Wednesday.

The distance runner, two times a World Championship bronze medallist, was 25 years old.

Her husband Emmanuel Rotich had gone missing but was detained in the coastal city of Mombasa on Thursday after an apparent attempt to flee the country.

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"The suspect has been arrested today and is in custody at Changamwe police station in Coast Region," Tom Makori, the sub-county police commander for Keito North, told Reuters.

"I can confirm now that we have [our] main suspect in custody."

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Tirop finished fourth in the 5,000 metres at Tokyo 2020.

She recently set a new women's world record over 10 kilometres on the road in Germany.

Over the same distance, Tirop won back-to-back World Championship bronze medals in London in 2017 and in Doha two years later.

She was also a former senior women's cross country world champion.

"She was an amazing young girl who was really working hard to be one of the top athletes in the world," former Kenya athletics captain Julius Yego told the BBC.

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"We just lost a great talent. She was such a strong woman and committed to what she was doing. She wanted to be the best.

"Her successful career was still being crafted but, unfortunately, someone decided the whole story cannot be written."

Rotich will face charges once investigations are completed, a Kenyan official said.

Athletics Kenya have announced that they have postponed the opening two rounds of the AK Cross Country Series after Tirop's death.

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