The prime suspect in the murder of record-breaking long-distance runner Agnes Tirop who was stabbed to death at her home in Kenya has been arrested.
Police authorities in Kenya say the prime suspect, Emmanuel Rotich who is the husband of the victim has been detained in the coastal city of Mombasa, and will face charges once investigations are completed.
Rotich was allegedly arrested on Thursday and he is now being questioned.
In a post on social media, the Kenyan Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said that Ibrahim Rotich was detained in Changamwe, Mombasa county, “as he tried to flee to a neighbouring country to evade justice”.
The sport’s governing body in Kenya suspended all athletics competitions for a fortnight as a mark of respect for Ms Tirop.
The murdered athlete, Ms Tirop, 25, was found dead on Wednesday in the western town of Iten, a training centre for top athletes.
Just last month, she broke the women-only 10km road race world record by 28 seconds in Germany, setting a new time of 30 minutes and one second..
During her career, Ms Tirop had success as both a junior – winning 5,000m bronze at world championships in 2012 and 2014 – and as a senior, winning the World Cross Country championships in 2015.
In August, she finished fourth in the 5,000m final at the Tokyo Olympics and in 2017 and 2019 she won the 10,000m bronze at the World Athletics Championships.
