AS ’25 DREW TO A CLOSE, T&FN Women’s Athlete Of The Year voters were presented with one of the strongest groups of candidates ever, for either sex. Nine athletes were unbeaten in at least one event — world champions, all, and each high on all-time lists if not WR-holders.
The ranks of those unbeatens included previous AOYs like Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Faith Kipyegon, a fiery newcomer at the top of the dashes — dominating April through September — in Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, and several other of the sport’s most dominant and spectacular athletes.
But none of them could touch Beatrice Chebet in this year’s tally.
Maybe it was because voters realized that when the Kenyan won the Rabat DL 3000 in 8:11.56 — No. 2 all-time but considered by many the “true” WR — she became the only modern woman to hold the 3K, 5000 and 10,000 records simultaneously. Or perhaps it was the impact of Chebet’s 13:58.06 WR at Pre, smashing through the 14:00 barrier with the same force as she did 29:00 at the same meet in ’24. They could be impressed at the 25-year-old’s range; she’s also now a 3:54.73 runner who speaks of challenging the marathon a few years down the road and advancing on Sifan Hassan territory.
Or it might have dawned on voters that when Chebet outsprinted Kipyegon and others with perhaps the greatest last 100m in any women’s championship distance race, completing her Tokyo 10K/5K double, she had yet another history-making achievement — becoming the first woman to sweep the longest Olympic and World Championship track races in back-to-back years.
Those achievements stand as the monumental highlights in Chebet’s season and left little doubt for the majority of AOY voters: she scored 94.1%, well ahead of MJW (81.5), Kipyegon (73.2) and SML (65.0), and collected 20 of 34 1st-place votes (MJW was next with 6).
For perhaps many less hardcore fans, Chebet is a relative newcomer among these elites; she didn’t really earn their full attention until that late spring day at the ’24 Pre Classic. The women’s 10K was set up as a WR attempt for Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay. But when she found herself with the Ethiopian at 8800 with plenty of run left, Chebet surged ahead and earned that first sub-29 — 28:54.14 to be exact. Already she had blasted a 5K WR on the roads 5 months earlier and by early August she would dazzle the world by ruling both the 12.5- and 25-lap affairs at the Paris Olympics.
However, Chebet has been on the scene quite a while. To see the foundation of the 5-foot-3 (99cm) sprite who is now the unquestioned queen of the distances, you have to go back.
Back before the 28:54, back before the 5K road WR. Back before her ’23 and ’24 World XC titles and the silver and bronze medals she earned in Eugene and Budapest. Back before even the World U20 track and XC crowns she won pre-pandemic.
You have to go back nearly a decade ago, when a neighbor paid a visit to Pauline Lang’at, Chebet’s grandmother with whom she was living, attending secondary school. As the Nairobi Nation reported in ’23, the visitor urged Lang’at to enroll her granddaughter at the nearby athletics camp — Paul Kemei’s Lemotit Club. Chebet’s older sister Sandra, and the similarly named Emily Chebet, had already had strong success at the camp at the U18 and U20 levels. Perhaps Beatrice, who had already shown considerable interest and talent at 16, could also use some structured training and coaching.
“Sandra and Emily’s story was so good that my grandmother couldn’t resist the urge to let me pursue athletics,” Chebet told the Nation’s Ayumba Ayodi. “I told [her] that I was more than ready to take up athletics as long as she supported me in camp.” So it was in early November ’16 that a future gold medalist and World Record-holder’s journey began to take shape.
“At times I am lost for words when I look at where I have reached when I look or talk to my grandmother,” she added. “She always reminds me of the first time I joined Lemotit… to work hard and always embrace discipline.”
Chebet had progressed enough by mid-’17 that she earned her first national team berth, for the World U18 in Nairobi. But a medal eluded her as she was 4th in what became an Ethiopia–Kenya duel with the visitors winning gold/bronze and teammate Emmaculate Chepkirui in the silver medal spot more than 8 seconds ahead.
Chebet’s Junior experiences in ’18 and ’19 were a humbling mix of championship successes by razor-thin margins among her peers, back-of-the pack finishes in early Diamond League events and near-misses in early attempts to make Kenyan senior teams.
The next time she was on a global championships stage — at the ’18 World U20s in Tampere, Finland — Chebet outkicked future rival Ejgayehu Taye, 15:30.77–15:30.87 to win gold at just 18 years and 4 months. Chebet looks back fondly on that race. She told World Athletics in ’23, “It was my first big victory, so I will not forget it.”
A month later, she made her Diamond League debut in Birmingham, the youngest runner in a 3000 field, and finished in 15th, 27 seconds back. Chebet said that a call from veteran Hellen Obiri lifted her spirits after that. “She called to advise me not to lose hope but make 5000 my main race… that losing wasn’t an issue but how I will pick up and dust myself off to continue… She always tells me winning and losing is part of the game and not a matter of life and death.”
The following March in Denmark, Chebet and the Ethiopian duo of Alemitu Tariku and Tsige Gebreselama crossed the line nearly together at the World U20 XC Champs. Tariku was announced the winner at first, but a photo finish analysis confirmed Chebet as the victor. Another boost toward the top.
Following the pandemic and in her first Diamond League as a Senior athlete in ’21, however, she claimed a then-PR of 8:27.49 to win the Doha 3K — as the youngest of 12 in the field. But there would still be ups and downs. Unfortunately, one of those “downs” came in the Kenyan Trials for the ’21 Olympics as she placed just 5th in the 5000. She would not have another major success that year.
When Chebet started training with coach Gabriel Kiptanui as part of the Kericho Athletics Club, her consistency improved and her progress accelerated. She made her first senior national team and in her first fortuitous trip to Hayward Field, only Tsegay finished faster in the World Champs 5000, as the now 21-year-old Chebet snagged the silver. Little did she know less than 2 years later she would claim the first of two WRs on the same oval. She would also win the Commonwealth title in ’22.
In ’23, Chebet was almost unbeatable — including her first of two senior World XC titles. At the Budapest Worlds, however, she faced heavy hitters Kipyegon and Sifan Hassan. Her bid to duplicate her overland title was thwarted and she settled for the bronze.
In ’24, Chebet started training in Iten with Peter Bii, a coach and former runner with whom she had developed a relationship and eventually married. After defending her World XC crown in early ’24, she had begun to reach her full potential and the WR and Olympic successes were soon to follow.
After her WC double, she told Athletics Weekly that she while she intends to chase more track golds in Beijing and LA, that after the ’28 Games she has a final frontier to conquer. “In the future, I’m going to run well on the roads, in the marathon,” she said, “so I still need to be focused in my life. I know by going to the roads that I’ll achieve more.”
