Season in Review: Beatrice Chebet’s golden year etched her name in athletics folklore

In 2024, running sensation Beatrice Chebet had an unforgettable season, cementing herself as one of the best middle-distance runners in the world.

Her stellar campaign, capped by Olympic gold in the 10,000m race in the Paris 2024 was an icing on the cake as it etched her young name in the annals of athletics history.

Chebet opened her season with a series of cross-country events. Firstly, the 80th edition of Elgoibar Juan Muguerza in Spain on January 7th, just weeks after she broke the 5km road world record in a blistering 14 minutes and 13 seconds Cursa dels Nassos in Barcelona, Spain.

She came home first, a recurring theme for her this season, after edging out fellow compatriot Edinah Jebitok by two seconds in the hotly contested race.

Her next event was at the Kenyan Cross Country Championships in March, where she got her first and only finish outside of the podium places, a fourth-place finish, but it would be over three months before she finished another race in a position other than first.

The 24-year-old went on to sweep wins at the Senior Cross Country Race in Serbia, the 5,000m at the Seashore Group Doha Meeting and the 10,000m at the Prefontaine Classic in the USA.

She was on an imperious form as she built up for the 2024 Paris Games. Being an Olympic year, she returned to Kenya for the national trials on the 14th of June and finished second in the 5,000m to none other than Kipyegon, the former world record holder over the distance.

Chebet’s dauntless debut

Beatrice had a successful season leading up to her first Olympic Games, where she would go on to compete in her two favoured disciplines; the 5,000 and 10,000m.

The 5,000m heats began on the second of August, where she won heat two in a ‘comfortable’ 15 minutes flat, which was her slowest competitive time of the year.

Then came the all-star final in the 5,000m. Two-time world champion Sifan Hassan and then, two-time Olympic Champion and compatriot Faith Kipyegon took to the start in the hopes of claiming gold.

The two Kenyan favorites, led by Kipyegon, gapped the rest of the rest of the field on the final lap, where Chebet launched an astonishing kick in the final metres, which went unanswered by her compatriot.

Chebet claimed the 5,000m Olympic title at the first time of asking.

The 10,000m was a similar story – a stacked field with the likes of 5,000m world record holder Gudaf Tsegay was not enough to shake off the mighty Chebet.

Another strong acceleration proved too much for her competition, as she pipped Italian Nadia Battocletti, who ran a national record.

Not done

She had achieved what she set out to do in 2024 in convincing fashion, but she wasn’t done just there.

Her fastest 5,000m times of the season came the following month, in the Zurich and Brussels Diamond League on the 5th and 14th of September, and at the Grand Prix Lombardia on the 8th in the 3,000m.

The future of Kenyan running is in strong hands at the helm of generational talents like Chebet – already a double Olympic champion with the world ahead of her to stamp her name.

She closed the season ranked 1st in the women’s 5,000m, 1st in the 10,000m, first in cross country and second overall.

No doubt, she’s going for the double at the 2025 Tokyo World Athletics Championships.