Sportswoman of the Year Kipyegon targets world record this year
Kenya’s middle distance sensation Faith Kipyegon has revealed that she will be going for the world record this year after missing it by a whisker last season when she clocked a magical 3:52.96 to bag gold at the World Championships in Oregon, USA.
The double Olympic champion was named the Sportswoman of the year at the Soya Awards on Friday, a deserving reward for her scintillating performance last year.
“I hope we will have a good year 2023 as athletes. Last year we tried our best to reach our targets and my prayer is to be able to go again this year. My expectation this year is to have high performance, I expect that God will grant me good health towards this year to run a world record of course, last year I missed the record time and I hope this year I will fulfill it by God’s grace”, Kipyegon told People Daily Sports.
The world record time in women’s outdoor 1500m is 3:50.07 set by Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba in Monaco in July 2015.
Kipyegon,29, saw off competition from tennis queen Angela Okutoyi and 5000m commonwealth champion Beatrice Chebet to claim her second successive SOYA Sportswoman of the year gong.
Evergreen Eliud Kipchoge was named Sportsman of the year for his stellar show in 2022 that saw him break his own world marathon record in Berlin, having touched the finish tape in a remarkable time of 2:01:09.His new record was recently ratified by World Athletics.
KCB Volleyball Club was named the Women’s Sports team of the year, reminiscent for their success in bringing home the African volleyball title last year after thrashing continental bigwigs Al Ahly from Egypt in Keliba, Tunisia.
Anti-doping campaign messages control the better part of the speeches during the colorful event held at the iconic KICC.
National Assembly Sports Committee Chairperson Dan Wanyama, who is also the MP for Webuye West, reiterated the importance of running or playing clean.
“Where I come from, I never tasted a supplement as a player. I only used ugali, vegetables and meat. Anything else was not anywhere near our menu. My advice to these young men and women is that you will bring down your careers, you will bring down your life just because you want to indulge in corruption by wanting to win even when you don’t deserve. Kindly do not be selfish by using ‘drugs’ to want to win and kill the talents of young men and women who are upcoming. I would really be one of the saddest Kenyans to see Kenya going the Russian way. If Kenya is banned, we might be banned forever and this is killing the whole nation.
National Olympic Committee of Kenya president Paul Tergat, who is also the founder of the coveted Soya Awards, reiterated Wanyama’s sentiments for clean sport.
“We should do all we can do to stop and end this menace once and for all. As we celebrate the winners, I pray that they will be our ambassadors and champions for clean sports in and outside the country so that we can have a sport which is respected worldwide”, said Tergat.
The celebrity guest of the 19th edition of the SOYA awards was Kenya’s rugby star Collins Injera who called on the government to do more in appreciating sports icons in the country.
