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Faith Cherotich’s agent Valentijn Trouw has picked out peculiar character traits that have made the reigning World U20 champion stand out.

Cherotich had a magnificent season in 2023, and that led to global recognition for her when she was named the women’s World Athletics Rising Star awardee.

Trouw, who is handling the 19-year-old, has explained why he has complete faith in Cherotich.

“She is always calm; she accepts life as it comes and makes the best of it. And with that attitude, plus her talent, she can achieve anything.

“Many times, for us from the outside, if you look at how an athlete is handling those kinds of situations, you also see how they are behaving when they are under immense pressure in an Olympic final or going for a record in the Diamond League; it is very telling,” Trouw told World Athletics.

The agent has been working with the senior world medallist in the 3000m steeplechase for two years now and is completely impressed.

“Faith stayed extremely calm and accepted advice from the team around her. I think she joined our team two years ago.

“She was at school, and she was showing some great potential in cross country,” he added.

Although she missed out on an individual medal by a place, Cherotich helped Team Kenya win silver at the U20 World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Bathurst, Australia.

Given her age, a bright future has been predicted for her.

“She helped win team silver at the World Cross Country Championships, and she expected a little more, but she did well.

“She is still very young, but you feel there is so much inside that if we go slow, she can have a 15- or 20-year career and go a long way,” Trouw continued.

Bet on Cherotich’s future

At the World Athletics Championships in Budapest in August, she was the last in the field to hold on to the eventual respective gold and silver medallists, Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi and Beatrice Chepkoech.

Cherotich finished almost five seconds clear of her nearest rival, Ethiopia’s Zerfe Wondemagegn, clocking a personal best of 9:00.69. Trouw, however, was not surprised by the youngster’s performance.

“No. It could have happened that she ran fourth, fifth, or sixth and still ran a good race. But to try to go for a medal was realistic. Because after the trials, she still had time to prepare for the World Championships.

“Some people don’t need you to tell them what to do in a competition because their intuition is such that they know what to do. And she is somebody who senses extremely well what she can do and what she can’t do,” the agent concluded.

With her performance in 2023, Cherotich is expected to have a far better season this year.