Kiprop: Motorbike accident didn't halt my training plan

Asbel Kiprop during a recent training in Eldoret. [Peter Ochieng, Standard]

Three-time 1,500m world champion Asbel Kiprop yesterday said injuries sustained during a road accident eight days ago did not affect his training.

The Olympic champion who is making a return to athletics after a four-year ban, which he vehemently opposed, said he sustained minor injuries after a motorcycle accident at his Simat village in Kapseret, Uasin Gishu County.

Kiprop denied reports that he sustained head injuries during a fight at a nightclub in Eldoret.

A picture of the athlete, showing stitched cuts in the head while aboard a vehicle circulated on social media on Thursday night, sparking speculations on social media.

Reports had suggested that the 31-year-old athlete had sustained the injuries following a fight in a bar.

But the athlete yesterday maintained that he was involved in a motorcycle accident a week ago, May 20. He said the injuries did not affect his training.

He told Standard Sports that he has his eyes set on cross-country races early next season.

He further said that he hopes to represent Kenya at the World Cross Country Championships which will take place on February 18, 2023 in Bathurst, Australia.

“I sustained injuries in a motorbike accident at Simat Village last Friday, May 20. I was the one riding the motorcycle,” he said.

He continued: “I took myself to Eldoret Hospital after the accident, and I was treated and discharged. The minor bruises on my knee and head have not affected my training programme at all.”

Kiprop said it was a self-involved accident that caused him head and knee injuries.

He had earlier yesterday taken to his Facebook page to post a message that, he says, his followers misunderstood.

“Violence in every tussle will solve nothing. Great battles are won without fighting. Nature is the master, and so we are,” he wrote.

Asked to expound on the Facebook post, Kiprop said: “People misinterpreted my message. I was not insinuating that I had been harmed in a fight. The truth is I sustained the injuries in a motorcycle accident. I have already sought treatment at an Eldoret hospital, and I’m now recuperating.” [Stephen Rutto]