Athletics is without a doubt the most popular sport in Kenya. From runners to ordinary citizens, everyone is passionate about it.
However, despite breaking world records and winning races at various international competitions, both as individuals and when representing the country, very few Kenyans know the schools that top athletes attended. Below are a number of high schools that have produced some of the most decorated Kenyan champions.
St. Francis Kimuron Secondary school
The Elgeyo Marakwet-based post primary learning institution has produced many brilliant athletes. Among them is the newly crowned world 800m champion, Emmanuel Korir. Korir, who was born in Iten, did not go to school far from home.
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The 2020 Tokyo Olympic gold medalist attended St. Francis Kimuron High School before traveling to the US for his University Education.
Korir is not the only elite runner who studied at the school. The reigning 800m world record holder, David Lekuta Rudisha, who is also considered by many athletics experts as the greatest athlete over the distance also schooled at this little-known school.
Apart from breaking the world record twice in his exemplary career, Rudisha also won two 800m Olympic titles, two world championships titles and numerous Diamond League titles.
Keringet Winners Girls High School
Winners Girls High School which is located in Kuresoi, Nakuru county has also produced amazing runners. Among them is Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon. It was at Winners Girls High School that her talent was molded.
Chepngetich was a football player before one of the tutors at the school advised her to try her luck in athletics. It is reported that the current world champion wanted to quit running, but Marylyn Lasoi, who was the then school principal, convinced her not to.
The rest is history for Kipyegon. She went on to become one of the greatest 1,500m runners in the world. Some of the titles that the mother of one has won include the 2016 Rio de Janeiro and 2020 Tokyo Olympic titles as well as the 2017 World Championship title.
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Riruta Satellite Secondary School
Riruta Satellite Secondary school has not been left behind when it comes to nurturing talented athletes. The Nairobi-based learning institution has produced many athletes among them the double 5,000m world champion Hellen Musando Obiri.
Other athletes who schooled at Riruta Satellite include former World Under 20 Cross Country champion Pauline Korikwiang and 2009 World Under 18 1,500m winner Nelly Chebet Ngeiywo.
Mogonga PAG Mixed Secondary School
2022 World Athletics championships 800m silver medalist Mary Moraa is one of the top athletes who studied at the Kisii-based school.
Moraa has grown into one of the finest runners in the region and more is yet to come from her. The 22-year old is a versatile runner.
She has previously competed in 200m, 400m and 100m before recently switching to 800m. At the 2017 World Under 18 Championships, she was part of the Kenyan team that won the 4x400m mixed relay title.
Kapsabet Boys High School
“Mr YouTube” as he is commonly known, Julius Yego, attended Kapsabet Boys High School in Nandi county. The Javelin star entered Kenya's rich athletic history when he became the first Kenyan to win a world Championships title during the 2015 Beijing edition.
A year later, Yego won Kenya a silver medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. He has also won four African Champions gold medals and a single Commonwealth Games gold medal.
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