Faith Kipyegon will begin her 2025 season at the Xiamen Diamond League in April and there are ways she could end up winning over Ksh45 million by October.
Multiple Olympics champion Faith Kipyegon was among the highest earning Kenyan athletes in 2024 and in 2025, that is expected to be the case.
Kipyegon has made the 1,500m her own as she is the Olympics and world champion as well as the world record holder over the distance. She is now also good at 5,000m, for which she is the world champion, Olympics silver medalist and broke a world record before it was lowered by Gudaf Tsegay.
The 31-year-old has expressed a desire to take on the 10,000m starting this season, which could see her relegate the 1,500m, although 2025 looks like when she would likely sign off from the race in style.
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Ahead of the new season, the Diamond League races, World Championships and Athlos are the events where Kipyegon will put focus on and all of them come with lucrative prize money that will boost her bank balance.
Kipyegon is scheduled to kick off her campaign at the season-opening Xiamen Diamond League in China, on April 26 where she will be running the 1,000m race.
Diamond League prize money is set to increase from this season and if she wins, she will take home $20,000 (Ksh2,589,000) up from $10,000 (Ksh1,294,500) as it had been in previous editions.
Being a championship year, Kipyegon will select carefully the Diamond League races she features in from the 14 series meetings with Doha, Rome, Paris and Prefontaine Classic having been some of her favourites in past years.
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Kipyegon typically features in between Diamond League series meetings in a season and given the final will take place before the World Championship this year, she could choose to do the same or stretch to five, before the final in Zurich from August 27-28.
That means winning four or five series meetings could bring her between $80,000 (Ksh10,356,000) and $100,000 (Ksh12,945,000).
The 31-year-old has also shown in the last two years that she is good at breaking records and if she sets another world record in the Diamond League, she will earn an extra $50,000 (Ksh6,472,500) bonus.
A five-time Diamond League trophy winner, Kipyegon has been undefeated in finals since 2021, and has expressed a desire to tie with Sandra Elkasevic on six titles, which would make her the joint most successful female athlete in the Diamond League.
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That will act as extra motivation this season as she will want to make the final and win it. If she seals a sixth straight Diamond League final win, Kipyegon will be assured another $50,000 (Ksh6,472,500) which is an increase from the $30,000 (Ksh3,883,500) that winners were getting paid until 2024.
That will then set the stage for the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan from September 13-21 and Kipyegon will be looking to defend her 1,500m and 5,000m titles.
While few will dispute that she is still favourite to retain 1,500m gold, there are doubts in 5,000m after she lost to compatriot Beatrice Chebet at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
However, if she wins both, then a prize money of $140,000 (Ksh18 million) will come her way as World Athletics was rewarding $70,000 (Ksh9,061,500) to each gold medalist at the 2023 World Championships and the amount will likely remain the same or increase.
Faith Kipyegon would then be left with one final event to close her season and it will likely be Athlos, the women’s-only track meet, whose second edition will take place on October 10 in New York.
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Kipyegon was among the top names who graced the inaugural edition in 2024 and pocketed the $60,000 (Ksh7,767,000) reserved for winners of each discipline after she claimed victory in 1,500m.
Athlos founder Alexis Ohanian has promised a bigger and better event in 2025 and it could also include a rise in prize money to Kipyegon and Co.
It means Kipyegon could potentially take home between $330,000 (Ksh42.7 million) and $350,000 (Ksh45.3 million) if she stays unbeaten in the whole of 2025 and there would be more from appearance fees and world record bonuses, if she lowers another one.
