World 3,000m steeplechase record holder Beatrice Chepkoech has dismissed marital and mental health crisis claims cited for her failure to compete in Oregon.

Chepkoech maintains that she pulled out of the World Athletics Championships hosted in the US due to an injury.

Speaking to People Daily Digital, Chepkoech said people spreading those rumours online have malicious intentions.

“We have a good time with my husband, and the person spreading lies online is just hoping to get more followers or such,” Chepkoech noted.

Chepkoech said that she had informed Athletics Kenya (AK) last week that she suffered an injury and will miss the competitions.

“The person claims that I did not give the information to the federation early but I told them last week that I will not be able to compete. However, this information was not shared online on time until when team Kenya was leaving the country for Oregon,” she added.

Chepkoech further added thet she is in a healthy mental state.

“I’m not depressed as the person claims, as you can see through the WhatsApp video call, I am having good moments with my husband in the house, later if the weather is good we will have a straw in town and have a cup of tea,” she added.

Kenyan women have performed well in the past seven editions of steeple chase competitions, which began in 2005 at the world championships in Helsinki and have won three gold medals.

Milcah Chemos first won gold at the World Athletics Championships in Moscow Russia in 2013, Hyvin Kiyeng won in 2015 Beijing and Beatrice Chepkoech emerged victorious in the 2019 world championships in Doha, Qatar.

In 2018 Chepkoech ran a world record timed 8.44.32, and she finished seventh in Tokyo with a world title.

Chepkoech’s career timeline

Chepkoech has been a consistent athlete competing locally and internationally.

She started to run while in elementary school and later began her career in road running.

She switched to track running in 2015 and set a 1500 m best of 4:03.28 minutes. This time placed her just outside the top twenty athletes for the season and she was the fifth fastest Kenyan.

She has a bronze medal in 1500m which she won at the 2015 African Games.

She made a successful transition to 3,000m steeplechase and on the 2016 IAAF Diamond League circuit, she clocked 9:17.41 minutes at the Prefontaine Classic before coming second at the Stockholm Diamond League.

She was ranked fifth in the world upon entry to the 2016 Rio Olympics.

She finished 2nd in the 1500m in the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

In 2019, she has also tried her luck in cross country when she competed at the senior women’s IAAF World Cross Country Championships held in Aarhus, Denmark. She was placed seventh.