Multiple Olympics champion Faith Kipyegon might have started her 2024 season late but she made up for lost time by raking in more millions that her peers who include US printer Noah Lyles.
Multiple Olympics champion Faith Kipyegon has ended the 2024 season as one of the highest paid despite starting her campaign late.
Kipyegon began her season in June but at the end of the campaign, she has banked over Ksh32 million from six major races.
The 30-year-old started her season at the Kenyan Olympics trials in June where she effortlessly sealed her tickets in both 1,500m and 5,000m before she featured in her first international event in early July, the Paris Diamond League.
At the event, Kipyegon shattered her own world record to clock 3:49.04 and with it, she took home a cheque of $60,000 (Ksh7.7 million) being $10,000 (Ksh1.3 million) for winning the race and a $50,000 (Ksh6.4 million) bonus for breaking a world record at a Diamond League meeting.
It set her up well for the Olympics where she defended her 1,500m title to become the first woman to claim three straight Olympics gold over the distance. Gold medallists at the Olympics were being rewarded $50,000 by World Athletics, adding to Kipyegon’s bank balance.
That came after she had won silver in 5,000m behind compatriot Beatrice Chebet and while it did not yield anything from World Athletics, more rewards awaited her at home.
This is because the government of Kenya was rewarding gold medallists with Ksh3 million, silver Ksh2 million and bronze Ksh1 million. For her two medals, Kipyegon went home with Ksh5 million from the government’s kitty.
After the Olympics, the mother of one headed to the Diamond League meeting in Rome where she won the 1,500m race, to bank another $10,000, as sealed her place at the final in Brussels where she claimed her fifth Diamond League Trophy.
Winners of each race at the Diamond League final banked $30,000 (Ksh3.9 million) further boosting her bank balance, and as her rivals signed off for the season, she was among the 36 women who were set to feature in the money-spinning Athlos NYC last Thursday.
The women’s-only event in New York had an enviable cash prize of $60,000 for each race winner and Kipyegon did not disappoint, claiming victory in her specialty 1,500m to take home the big cheque.
In total, she made $210,000 (Ksh27 million) from her track earnings and an extra Ksh5 million from the Kenyan government, taking her total for the season to Ksh32 million, a handsome return for her hard work.
To put it in context, Kipyegon earned much more than American sprint king Noah Lyles who made over $133,800 in prize money despite featuring in more events and starting his season much early.
Lyles featured in one Diamond League race but she was at the World Indoor Championships, World Relays as well as Olympics, where he won gold and bronze and there were grand prix meetings in New York and Florida in between.
