Sheila Chepkirui


Sheila Chepkirui Kiprotich is a Kenyan middle- and long-distance runner who competes mainly in the 1500 metres and 5000 metres. She won the gold medal at the African Championships in Athletics in 2016.
In her youth, Chepkirui competed in age category competitions. She defeated Yuriko Kobayashi over 1500 m at the 2005 World Youth Championships in Athletics to claim her first international gold medal. Her finishing time of in a 4:12.29 minutes was a championship record. She returned to defend her title two years later, but ended up as bronze medallist at the 2007 event. She failed to improve at the 2008 World Junior Championships in Athletics and did not get past the heats. She dropped out of the sport after that year.
Chepkirui joined up with Kenya Defence Forces and began competing at their track competitions again around 2012. She returned to top level competition in late 2015. Good performances at national cross country running meets culminated in her finishing third at the Kenyan Cross Country Championships. She was chosen for the 2016 African Cross Country Championships and in her senior debut she took the silver medal as part of a Kenyan podium sweep with Alice Aprot and Beatrice Mutai. Later that year she won the 5000 m at the Kenyan Athletics Championships and won her first senior title at the 2016 African Championships in Athletics, setting a championship record of 15:05.45 minutes.

International competitions

National titles