On Monday, Kenyan police announced that they had detained two individuals in relation to the stabbing death of Ugandan athlete Benjamin Kiplagat over the weekend.
According to local police commander Stephen Okal, the two men, who are thought to be in their 30s, were taken into custody on the outskirts of Eldoret, a town in the Rift Valley, on Monday.
“The two suspects are known criminals who have been terrorising the members of the public… We are in the advanced stage of the investigations and we will possibly be sending them to court tomorrow ” Okal told AFP.
The Kenyan-born athlete made a lasting impression on the athletics world by winning three Olympic Games and six world championships while proudly representing Uganda. Among his noteworthy accomplishments is his advancement to the 2012 London Olympic Games semi-finals in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
The 34-year-old man had a deep knife wound to his neck when his body was discovered in a car on Saturday night. Police said that investigations had shown that Kiplagat had been “waylaid” by the two men prior to him hitting their motorbike with his car, even though the reason for the killing was still unknown.
“This probably provoked them into that violent act,” Okal said, making reference to the stabbing. He added that one of the suspects had been taken into custody carrying a knife that was allegedly used in the murder.
Many athletes who train in the high altitudes of Eldoret are known to call it home.
Over the course of his roughly 18-year career, Kiplagat won bronze at the 2012 Africa Championships and silver at the 2008 World Junior Championships in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
He competed in Rio in 2016 and advanced to the event’s semi-finals at the London Olympics in 2012. His passing comes after the October 2021 murder of Kenyan distance running champion Agnes Tirop, who was discovered dead from a stabbing at the age of 25 in her Iten home, a training centre close to Eldoret.
