All athletics events in the country have been suspended for two weeks in honour of fallen athlete Agnes Tirop.

In a statement issued on Thursday, October 14, the athletics federation in Kenya made the move in honour of Tirop who was found dead on Wednesday in her house in Iten.

Athletics Kenya said the country has “lost a jewel who was one of the fastest-rising athletics giants on the international stage, thanks to her eye-catching performances.”

Police have since launched a manhunt for Tirop’s husband who is the main suspect in the 25-year-old’s death.

“When police got in the house, they found Tirop on the bed and there was a pool of blood on the floor. They saw she had been stabbed in the neck, which led us to believe it was a knife wound, and we believe that is what caused her death,” Tom Makori, the Elgeyo Marakwet county police commander told the media in a past briefing.

Tirop won bronze medals in the 10,000m at the 2017 and 2019 World Championships and finished 4th in the 5,000m at the Tokyo Games.

In September, she also made history by taking 28 seconds off the long-standing, women-only world record for 10km at the Adizero Road To Records event in Germany.

Tirop finished in a time of 30:01, breaking the previous record of 30:29, which had been set by Moroccan Asmae Leghzaoui in 2002.

“I’m so happy to have broken the world record. I felt the pace was good. The course was very good, too.” an elated Tirop said after her success on the tracks.

In his message of condolence, President Uhuru Kenyatta paid a tribute to Tirop, terming her death as an unfortunate end to a promising athlete.

“It is unsettling, utterly unfortunate and very sad that we’ve lost a young and promising athlete who, at a young age of 25 years, she had brought our country so much glory through her exploits on the global athletics stage including in this year’s 2020 Tokyo Olympics where she was part of the Kenyan team in Japan,” President Uhuru said.