The reigning world 3,000 metres champion, Faith Cherotich has a dream.
By the end of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, Cherotich desires to have rewritten women’s 3,000m steeplechase history.
She wants to become the first woman to hold both the Olympics, World and Commonwealth Games titles as well as winning the Diamond League trophy five times back-to-back by the end of 2028. “Winning in Glasgow will really motivate me to aim higher next year. I am just five years into my running career, and the future looks bright,” she said.
Her journey to that dream perhaps starts in Glasgow, Scotland, next month where she will be gunning for the Commonwealth Games gold as she debuts at the ‘Club’ Games before seeking to defend her world title next year in Beijing.
"Winning in Glasgow will really motivate me to aim higher next year. I am just five years into my running career, and the future looks bright."
The 21-year-old, who settled for bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, will be out to make amends at the Los Angeles Summer Games by becoming the first Kenyan to win gold over the event at the Olympics.
Kenya’s Milcah Chemos won the Commonwealth Games title in 2010 Delhi before being crowned at the world championships in 2013 Moscow.
However, Chemos’ desire for a hat-trick in championship events were curtailed when she was forced to take bronze at the 2012 London Olympic Games, losing the battle to Habiba Ghribi of Tunisia, as Sofia Assefa of Ethiopia snatched silver. Chemos is the only athlete to have won the Diamond League Trophy back-to-back four times from the inaugural 2010 series.
Uganda’s Dorcas Inzikuru made history by winning the inaugural 2005 World Athletics Championships in Helsinki, and the inaugural 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne but never won an Olympic medal.
After becoming the youngest medallist at the world championships by claiming bronze at the 2023 Budapest at 19 and 20 respectively, Cherotich bounced back to capture the world title last year in Tokyo in a championship record of 8:51.59.
–Ayumba Ayodi