Tokyo2025: National javelin star Jekemboi set for historic WC appearance
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Reading Time: 2min | Tue. 02.09.25. | 18:58
Just like Yego, Jepkemboi wants to conquer the javelin world and inspire other girls to excel
Kenya's javelin thrower Irene Jepkemboi has been handed a chance to join Team Kenya for the Tokyo World Championship set for Saturday, 13 to Sunday, 21 September, after receiving a rankings invite.
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She becomes the first Kenyan woman to compete in the field at a World Championship and joins former World Champion Julius Yego as the only throwers to compete on that stage from the athletics-rich country.
Jepkemboi, a student at the Texas Christian University (TCU), has changed the Kenyan throwing landscape for women since she won gold at the Confederation of Africa Athletics (CAA) Under-20 championships in Lusaka, Zambia, in 2023.
She has gone on to break the long standing national record of 53.58m set by Cecilia Kiplagat in 2007 with a 57.23m effort in March last year, at the Texas A&M Invitational.
As a Freshman in 2024, she earned First Team All-American honours after finishing fourth overall at NCAA with a throw of 56.51m (185-4) before becoming TCU's first-ever All-American in the women's javelin the programme's history and was the Big 12 Champion in the event.
Jepkemboi etched her name in the history books by becoming the first Kenyan female athlete to surpass the 60m mark, registering a massive 60.31m at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, in Eugene back in June.
The feat saw her become the first Kenyan field event athlete to win a medal at the NCAA Outdoor Nationals, securing bronze for TCU.
Despite not achieving the 2025 World Athletics Championships qualifying standard of 64m, she has made it through the Next best by World Ranking where she is placed 42nd with 1094 points.
Just like Yego, Jepkemboi wants to conquer the javelin world and inspire other girls to excel.
"Yego has always inspired me and he has done well in the men category and if he conquered the world. why not me?," she told Nation in a previous interview.
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