Agnes Tirop: Police hunt husband of Kenyan runner found stabbed to death

Tirop, 25, represented Kenya in the 5,000m event at the Tokyo Olympics and held world record in women's 10km

Kenya's Agnes Jebet Tirop reacts after finishing third in the women's 10,000 metres final at the 2019 World Championships in Doha. Tirop, 25, was found stabbed to death at her home, Athletics Kenya said on Wednesday. Reuters

Agnes Tirop of Kenya poses with the ADIZERO adios Pro 1 shoe after winning the ADIZERO: ROAD TO RECORDS Women's 10km in 30:01 at adidas HQ on September 12, 2021 in Herzogenaurach, Germany. She broke the world record by 29 seconds. Getty Images

Agnes Tirop (C) of Kenya celebrates on the podium. Getty Images

Agnes Tirop of Kenya wins the ADIZERO: ROAD TO RECORDS Women's 10km in 30:01 at adidas HQ on September 12, 2021 in Herzogenaurach, Germany. Getty Images

Agnes Tirop of Kenya wins the ADIZERO: ROAD TO RECORDS Women's 10km. Getty Images

Agnes Tirop (R) of Kenya wins the ADIZERO: ROAD TO RECORDS Women's 10km in 30:01 at adidas HQ. Getty Images

Kenya's Lilian Rengeruk, Hellen Obiri, centre, and Agnes Tirop, right, compete in the women's 5,000-meters final, at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Monday, August 2, 2021, in Tokyo. Tirop finished the race in fourth place. AP Photo

Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay, Kenya's Agnes Tirop, Kenya's Hellen Obiri and Ethiopia's Ejgayehu Taye compete in the women's 5,000m final during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo. Getty Images

Sifan Hassan of Netherlands crosses the finish line first ahead of Agnes Tirop of Kenya in Heat 1 of the Women's 5,000m on day seven of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Getty Images

Bronze medallist Kenya's Agnes Tirop poses on the podium during the medal ceremony for the Women's 10,000m at the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha. AFP

Kenyan distance runner Agnes Tirop, a two-times World Championship bronze medallist, was found stabbed to death at her home, Athletics Kenya said on Wednesday.

The 25-year-old represented Kenya in the 5,000m event at the Tokyo Olympics and finished fourth in the finals.

"Tirop was found dead at their home in Iten after she was allegedly stabbed by her husband. We are still working to unearth more details surrounding her demise," Athletics Kenya said.

Local police said Tirop's husband was a suspect.

"We received a message from the family of Tirop's husband that the husband had phoned the parents while crying and asking that God forgive him as there is something bad he had done," Tom Makori, Keiyo North Sub County Police Commander, told the private-owned NTV Kenya Television.

"When police went to Tirop's house they found her in bed with blood under the bed and a lot of it on the floor.

"When police looked at the body, it looked like she had been stabbed on the neck with what we suspect to be a knife."

Last month, Tirop smashed the women-only 10km world record in Germany, crossing the line in 30:01 to shave 28 seconds from the previous record held by Morocco's Asmae Leghzaoui from 2002.

Tirop won bronze medals at the 2017 and 2019 World Championships in the 10,000m, and also won the 2015 World Cross Country Championships.

"It is even more painful that Agnes, a Kenyan hero by all measures, painfully lost her young life through a criminal act perpetuated by selfish and cowardly people," Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta said.

"I urge our law enforcement agencies led by the National Police Service to track down and apprehend the criminals responsible for the killing of Agnes."