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A number of Kenyan athletes did not enjoy a good 2024 season following their less than impressive performances in an Olympics year and as we start 2025, who is keen to prove the critics wrong?
The year 2024 was kind to a number of Kenyan track and field stars but to some, it was a season to forget.
This is after their plans did not pan out well, especially in relation to the Paris 2024 Olympics, and heading into the new year, they have a point to prove to their doubters.
So, who are the Kenyan athletes with something to prove in 2025?
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06:21 - 31.12.2024
Ferdinand Omanyala: How Kenyan speedster faired against Noah Lyles, Kishane Thompson & Co in 2024
Kenyan sprint sensation Ferdinand Omanyala put up the joint second fastest time of 2024 yet failed to deliver on the biggest stage of them all.
Ferdinand Omanyala
Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala had high hopes of finally doing it at the big stage but his Olympics dreams ended at the semi-final.
Having reached the final of the 2023 World Championships, Omanyala hoped to go one better in Paris but he regressed instead, leading to sentiments that he cannot do it against the big boys from his critics.
Heading into 2025, Omanyala will be looking to shut his critics with an impressive performance at the World Championships in Tokyo.
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17:15 - 31.12.2024
'They don't care about intimidation' - Justin Gatlin on how modern sprinters like Noah Lyles & Co differ from his generation
Justin Gatlin has explained how modern sprinters like Noah Lyles are differen from 'intimidating' sprinters of his generation, such as Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell.
Emmanuel Korir
Former Olympics champion Emmanuel Korir failed to defend his title when he could not get past the semi-finals at the Kenyan Olympics trials after a sixth-place finish.
Having been hampered by injuries and poor form, Korir was seeking to bounce back last year but the early signs were that it would be a season of struggle.
He returned to action at the Rabat Diamond League in May 2024, since his disappointing outing at the 2023 World Championships, but could only manage ninth place and any hopes of a rebirth at the trials disappeared in thin air. The year 2025 will be a big one for him.
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21:15 - 31.12.2024
Incredible Beatrice Chebet ends 2024 in style as she obliterates field to smash own five-kilometer record in Barcelona
Chebet, who delivered two gold medals at the Paris Olympic games last summer has wrapped up her 2024 in style by smashing yet another record in Barcelona.
Eliud Kipchoge
Marathon great Eliud Kipchoge had a disappointing 2024 season by his very high standards as none of the two events he featured in yielded any semblance of success.
Kipchoge started by featuring at the Tokyo Marathon in March and it did not go to plan as he finished a disappointing 10th, his worst-ever finish in a race.
His hopes of righting those wrongs at the Paris Olympics went up in smoke as he endured further misery, when he failed to finish, dropping out at the 31km mark.
That has seen some write him off, and even went as far as telling him to retire, but he has promised big things this year which he will have to deliver to fend off the critics.
Daniel Ebenyo
Daniel Ebenyo did not finish outside the top three in all his track events in 2024, bar one, the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, which served as Kenya’s Olympics trials for 10,000m.
Ebenyo arrived late in Eugene owing to a visa delay and also tripped and fell during the race, ending up eighth, when only the first two across the line earned direct tickets.
He was left to rue the missed opportunity, accusing Athletics Kenya of giving him false promises over a ticket to Paris, but he has a chance to right those wrongs this year at the World Championships.
Beatrice Chepkoech
World 3,000m steeplechase record holder Beatrice Chepkoech did not enjoy a great season in 2024 after sixth place at the Olympics and fourth place in 5,000m at the African Games.
Chepkoech had started the season well by winning bronze at the World Indoor Championships but she was outwitted once again by Bahrain’s Wifred Yavi, who claimed Olympics gold, while young Faith Cherotich also overshadowed her.
In 2025, the 33-year-old will seek to prove that her best years are not behind her.
Brigid Kosgei
For former world marathon record holder Brigid Kosgei, 2024 was to be the year when she made a triumphant return but it was not to be after an injury locked her out of the Olympics, having made the Kenyan team.
Kosgei had shown great promise by winning the Lisbon half marathon in March but followed it up with fifth place at the London Marathon.
She still earned an Olympics ticket but the injury put paid to her dream and for a runner who has won five marathon titles, including two each in Chicago and London, she must be itching to get things right in 2025.
Julius Yego
Kenya’s javelin star Julius Yego is another one who has to shrug off sentiments that he is ‘finished’.
Yego, who won his fifth African title in 2024, had failed to qualify for the Olympics and only made it via the world rankings, and despite his injury woes early in the season, he managed an impressive fifth place.
The 2015 world champion now has a chance to prove that he still got it in Tokyo in what will be his seventh straight World Championships.
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