World record holder Agnes Tirop has been found dead at the age of 25 in her home in Kenya.
Athletics Kenya released a statement on Wednesday to confirm the saddening news that Tirop's body had been found at her home in the western town of Iten, a training hub for many athletes.
The Kenyan national athletics organisation added that they are working to learn more details about Tirop's death.
"Kenya has lost a jewel," Athletics Kenya continued in their statement. "She was one of the fastest-rising athletics giants on the international stage thanks to her eye-catching performances on the track."
One of the best women in the world at long-distance running, Tirop followed up her fourth-place finish in the 5,000 metre Tokyo Olympics final by setting the world record in a women's only 10-kilometre road race in Germany in September.
Alongside her record-breaking outing at Herzogenaurach, in which she finished in 30:01, Tirop collected two bronze medals at the World Athletics Championships in 2017 and 2019.
She also won the World Cross Country title in 2015, becoming the second-youngest women's winner in the history of the event, after also triumphing in the Africa Cross Country Championship the previous year.
Tirop endured a lean year in 2021 but placed third in Kenya's Olympic trials before missing out on the podium in Tokyo by one place.
In her most recent race, Tirop finished second in Geneva on October 3, in which she clocked 30:20.
World Athletics paid their tributes in a statement, adding they are "deeply shocked and saddened by the untimely death."
