Government unveils lucrative athlete reward packages as Kipyegon, Chebet return

Faith Kipyegon continued her reign as the queen of middle-distance running by breaking her own 1500m world record with a stunning time of 3:48.68, just days after participating in the Sub-4 minute mile challenge in Paris. Her performance reaffirmed her dominance and resilience on the global stage.

Beatrice Chebet, on the other hand, made history by clocking 13:58.06 minutes in the 5000m, becoming the first woman in track history to run the distance in under 14 minutes. Her feat marked a new era in women’s long-distance running.

“I’m grateful for how far we have reached, but I have only one request, and I know the minister will do something about this,” said Kipyegon.

“Those elite athletes have perfect training facilities, raising the competition because if you have good training facilities, you will perform even better.”

Chebet praised Faith as a key source of inspiration and motivation, citing the recent attempt by Faith to run a sub-4-minute mile. Watching Faith always motivates me to push harder. Her consistency is admirable, and going into the race, I believed I could do it, and now we are here,” she said.

Principal Secretary for Sports Elijah Mwangi, on the other hand, emphasized the need to create more opportunities for local athletes for exposure.

“I was discussing with the Athletics Kenya President, and I saw the need to have more athletics competitions here at home because there is a lot of talent across all parts of the country,” he stated.

In his keynote speech, CS Mvurya lauded the athletes for flying the Kenyan flag high and announced a major step forward in supporting sports talent that the ministry has now approved.

We have now certified new package award rates for athletes competing in the Olympics and Paralympic Games. Gold winners are up from Ksh 750,000 to Ksh 3 million, silver winners from Ksh 500,000 to Ksh 2 million, and bronze winners are up from Ksh 350,000 to Ksh 1 million.” Mvurya declared.

The event served not only as a celebration but also as a platform to discuss investment in sports infrastructure and talent development across the country, with focus now shifting to preparations for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.