Faith Kipyegon, 4 Other Female Kenyan Athletes that Turn Men's Heads Over Stunning Looks

Kenya has over the years produced top of the cream athletes who've brought home awards and recognitions for their exploits on and off the tracks.

Apart from breaking records and earning listings in the world's halls of fame, most of them are also known for their striking beauty that leaves the necks of many men craning.

TUKO.co.ke shares details about five of these gorgeous athletes as well as their accomplishments in the athletics discipline.

Faith Kipyegon

Twenty-seven-year-old Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon is a 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympic champion, having gotten into professional competitions at the age of 20.

At the World Championships in 2015, 2017 and 2019, Kipyegon carried home silver, gold and another silver medal respectively.

Born on January 10, 1994, the young athlete has carved a niche for specializing in the 1500 metres, setting a record for the fourth-fastest time in history.

She not only won the 2014 Commonwealth Games as well as the 2017 and 2021 Diamond League but was also listed among the top 100 most influential Africans by New African magazine in 2017.

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Athletics

Kipyegon is married to Timothy Kitum, the 2012 Olympic 800m bronze medallist, with whom she has a daughter named Alyn.

Mercy Cherono

Mercy Cherono boasts of being a World Championships Silver medallist, World Cross Country Gold medallist, World Cross Country Silver medallist, and Olympic Games finalist.

She is a two-time world junior champion in the 3000 metres (2008, 2010), as well as a gold winner from the 2007 World Youth Championships in Athletics and 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games.

Mercy's rise to the top started way back in time when she took silver medals in the junior team and individual competitions at the 2009 IAAF World Cross Country Championships.

The 30-year-old won the Most Promising Sportswoman of the Year category at the 2009 Kenyan Sports Personality of the Year awards, a feat that she repeated the following year.

Joan Cherono

Sprinter Joan Cherono not only specialises in 400m, 4x200m, 4x400m and 4x100m races but also works as a law enforcer at the Directorate of Criminal Investigation.

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She had her first appearance on the international stage at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Australian Gold Coast.

The 30-year-old who is an All-Africa Games Bronze medallist became the Kenyan champion in the 100-meter run in 2018.

Beatrice Chepkoech

Thirty-year-old Beatrice Chepkoech is a World Championships Gold medallist, World Cross Country Gold medallist, All-Africa Games Bronze medallist, and an Olympic Games finalist.

Chepkoech set a new world record holder in 2018 after completing the race in 8:44.32, a record that remains unbeaten to date.

She is the first woman to break 8:50 and 8:45 records, on top of breaking the women’s 5km road world record in this year by completing the race in 14 minutes and 43 seconds at the Morocco Run.

Hellen Obiri

Thirty-one-year-old Hellen Obiri is a two-time Olympic Games Silver medallist, two-time World Championships Gold medallist, and one-time World Championships Bronze medallist as well as World Cross Country Gold medallist.

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The middle-distance won gold at the 5000 metres race in the 2017 World Championships in London, a title she defended the 2019 World Championships in Doha and set a new record.

She took home silver medals from the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics, as well as gold from the 3000 metres race at the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Istanbul, Turkey.

Like her counterpart Faith Kipyegon, Obiri was listed among the top 100 most influential Africans by New African magazine in 2017.