Benjamin Kiplagat, a Ugandan middle-distance runner specializing in the 3000m steeplechase of international fame in athletics, was stabbed to death on New Year’s Eve at the well-known international training center of Eldoret in Kenya. As reported by the police, who intervened for a report of a road accident, the lifeless body of Kiplagat, 34 years old, who participated in three Olympics and six world championships between 2007 and 2019, was found inside a car. Stab wounds to the chest and neck were fatal.
Kenyan police said they had arrested two people in relation to the murder of Kiplagat which occurred yesterday in Kimumu near Eldoret in the Rift Valley, 312 kilometers north of the Kenyan capital Nairobi. The two men in their 30s, known criminals, were arrested on the outskirts of the city. One of the suspects was stopped with a knife that investigators believe was used to carry out the crime. The lifeless body of Benjamin Kiplagat, 34 years old, Kenyan by birth and then naturalized as Ugandan, was found in his brother’s car. In his career Kiplagat won silver in the 3000m steeplechase at the 2008 World Junior Championships, took part in three Olympics (best result was the semi-final in London 2012) but also in six World Championships, Commonwealth Games and African Championships. Eldoret is known internationally for being the homeland of both Kenyan middle-distance runners but also a retreat for foreign athletes, including Italians, during the winter months. In October 2021, the Kenyan middle distance champion, Agnes Tirop, at the age of 25, was found lifeless, stabbed to death, in her home in Iten di lei, another altitude training center near Eldoret. Following her murder, her husband was arrested.