‘She is on fire 365 days’

Former Olympic champion Wilfred Bungei explains why he feels Faith Kipyegon deserves to win coveted award this year.

Former Olympic 800m champion Wilfred Bungei is backing triple Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon to win the Laureus World Sports Award this year.

Bungei, who cruised to the victory in the two-lap race in 2008, is banking on Kipyegon’s consistency to clinch the coveted award. Kipyegon has been a dominant force in 1500m and 5000m.

PAY ATTENTION: Stay updated with the Latest Athletics News in Kenya from Pulse Sports.

“She is a modern athlete; she is on fire 365 days in a year, very disciplined and always working hard to improve herself; that is why she is successful any time she competes,“ Bungei told Citizen Digital.

Bungei maintained that Kipyegon is a role model to the upcoming athletes, and the award will help seal her legacy as one of the greatest in her specialty.

“She has been very consistent in her races; she keeps improving every day and she had a successful year and that is why she deserves the award because she is also a role model to many in the world.”

Kipyegon is the current world record holder for the 1500m and was consistent at the Diamond League meetings last year. Kipyegon, 31, is looking to become the first Kenyan athlete to win the award in more than a decade. Vivian Cheruiyot bagged the title in 2012.

Phase II of renovations at Kasarani Stadium are making fine progress ahead of the April deadline.

Kipyegon, who also won a gold medal in the 1500m at the 2017, 2022 and 2023 World Athletics Championships and in the 5,000m at the 2023 World Athletics Championships, faces competition from among others; Olympic gymnast champion Simone Biles (United States), Olympic marathon champion Sifan Hassan (the Netherlands), tennis superstar Aryanna Sabalenka (Belarus), and Spanish footballer Aitana Bonmati, who won the award last year.

At the June 2024 Kenyan Olympic Trials in Nairobi, Kipyegon won both the 1500m and 5000m, in times of 3:53.99 and 14:46.28, respectively.

A month later, Kipyegon broke her own 1500m world record by seven hundredths of a second, running 3:49.04 at Meeting de Paris.

Phase II of renovations at Kasarani Stadium are making fine progress ahead of the April deadline.

Kipyegon ended her campaign at the Paris Olympics with gold in the 1500m, breaking her own Olympic record with a time of 3:51.29. She outsprinted silver and bronze medallists Jessica Hull and Georgia Bell to win by a margin of 1.27 seconds.

In September 202, Kipyegon won the 1500 metres at the Diamond League final in Brussels, Belgium, in a meeting record time of 3:54.75.