New Telegraph

Olympic champion tests positive for COVID-19, to miss Diamond League

Olympic and world 3,000m steeplechase champion, Conseslus Kipruto, will miss the first Diamond League event of the season in Monaco after testing positive for coronavirus. Kipruto, 25, had been one of 11 Kenyan athletes cleared to compete on August 14 after the French government waived their visa applications. But he announced he had failed the COVID-19 protocol test on Saturday.

 

“I don’t have any symptoms and I was actually in great shape,” he said. “I was planning to go for the world record – it has stayed too long outside Kenya.”

 

Kipruto claimed gold at the Rio 2016 Olympics and won back-toback world titles at London in 2017 and Doha last year. He has a personal best of eight minutes 00.12 seconds, with Kenyan- born Qatar athlete Saif Saaeed Shaheen holding the current men’s world record of 7:53.63.

 

“I wish to thank Monaco for all the work they have done and I wish them and my colleagues a wonderful competition,” added Kipruto. “Athletics is back and I will be back as well.”

Read Previous

I won’t disappoint Nigerians in NCPC –Rev. Pam

Read Next

Business owners, traders lament forex scarcity

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *