Ugandan Athlete Benjamin Kiplagat Stabbed to Death in Kenya

Kenyan-born Ugandan Athlete Benjamin Kiplagat is dead. He was 34.

Kenya police said the lifeless body of the 3000m Steeplechase record holder was discovered inside his brother’s car in Texas near Kimumu Secondary School along Eldoret-Iten Road, Eldoret, western Kenya on Saturday night.

Moiben Sub-County Police Commander Stephen Okal, said Kiplagat’s “body had a deep knife cut wound on the neck.”

Okal further said investigations into the shocking incident had been launched to arrest the perpetrators of the crime. 

Kiplagat took up running following the success of Boniface Kiprop, who is from the same village as Kiplagat, in the 2004 World Junior Championships. 

He began by competing in the 10,000 metres, but on the advice of his coach, he dropped down to the 1500 and 5000 m.

He made his international debut at the 2006 World Cross Country Championships, having qualified by finishing 6th in the Ugandan Junior Cross Country Championships. 

That year he also qualified for the World Junior Championships. There, he set a new national junior record of 8:35.77, which he then lowered to 8:34.14 in the final, where he finished 6th.

In 2008, he finished 4th in the World Cross Country Championships. That year, he lowered the Uganda record to 8:16.06 and then 8:14.29 before finishing second in the World Junior Championships.

His 2009 season was disrupted by malaria and typhoid, but he still managed to further lower the Ugandan national record to 8:12.98. 

He was again affected by malaria, and a boil on his leg, in 2010, but again lowered the Ugandan record to 8:03.81. He finished 4th at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.