{"id":93534,"date":"2023-05-27T17:17:46","date_gmt":"2023-05-27T17:17:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships"},"modified":"2023-05-27T17:49:06","modified_gmt":"2023-05-27T17:49:06","slug":"teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships","title":{"rendered":"Teenager Koech shocks Kigen at the KDF championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Kenya. <\/strong><\/span>Olympic 3,000m steeplechase bronze medalist and five-time Kenya Defence Forces Championships winner Benjamin Kigen was left dismayed after conceding defeat to Simon Koech in the specialty on May 26 in the KDF championships.<\/p>\n

The teenager, Koech, born in 2003 in Bomet, brought Kigen\u2019s five-year reign to a halt in his first senior race.<\/p>\n

Koech pulled away from the leading pack with two laps to go and went on to win in eight minutes and 28.02 seconds.<\/p>\n

The 2021 World Athletics under-20 3,000m steeplechase bronze medalist edged out Kigen to a second-place finish with a difference of six seconds as Wesley Langat claimed bronze in eight minutes, 34.95 sec.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really feels great to win my first title in my maiden participation in the KDF event,\u201d said a joyous Koech.<\/p>\n

\u201cThough it was my first trial, I am not surprised to win considering the training and preparations I had. I was ready for the competition. Coming to compete against Kigen gave me more boost,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

Koech, coached by John Kimetto, was recruited into KDF after his showpiece in the under-20 World athletics championships last year.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old was inspired to join steeplechase by Olympic and World steeplechase champions Ezekiel Kemboi and Conseslus Kipruto as well.<\/p>\n

Koech feels ready for the national championships slated for June 22-24 even as he eyes a world championships slot in the team Kenya.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack to the camp, I will have to work on improving my time. Securing a slot for the world championships will be my aim,” Koech said.<\/p>\n

He added that his dream is to bring back the lost glory days in the steeplechase which has been Kenya\u2019s race for the longest time.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy ultimate dream is to help Kenya reclaim the Olympic and World steeplechase titles that were once our race. I want to pick up from where my mentors left and achieve similar accolades to what they achieved,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Kenya<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Kenya. Olympic 3,000m steeplechase bronze medalist and five-time Kenya Defence Forces Championships winner Benjamin Kigen was left dismayed after conceding defeat to Simon Koech in the specialty on May 26 in the KDF championships. The teenager, Koech, born in 2003 in Bomet, brought Kigen\u2019s five-year reign to a halt in his first senior […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":93532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[6857,7003,544],"class_list":["post-93534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-kenya","tag-kenya"],"yoast_head":"\nTeenager Koech shocks Kigen at the KDF championships - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Olympic 3,000m steeplechase bronze medalist and five-time Kenya Defence Forces Championships winner Benjamin Kigen was l ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teenager Koech shocks Kigen at the KDF championships\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Olympic 3,000m steeplechase bronze medalist and five-time Kenya Defence Forces Championships winner Benjamin Kigen was l ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-27T17:17:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-27T17:49:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/sm_1685193444.203418.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"716\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Teenager Koech shocks Kigen at the KDF championships\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-27T17:17:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-27T17:49:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships\"},\"wordCount\":335,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/sm_1685193444.203418.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Kenya\",\"Kenya\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships\",\"name\":\"Teenager Koech shocks Kigen at the KDF championships - kenya\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/sm_1685193444.203418.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-27T17:17:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-27T17:49:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Olympic 3,000m steeplechase bronze medalist and five-time Kenya Defence Forces Championships winner Benjamin Kigen was l ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/sm_1685193444.203418.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/sm_1685193444.203418.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":716,\"caption\":\"Teenager Koech shocks Kigen at the KDF championships\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Teenager Koech shocks Kigen at the KDF championships\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/\",\"name\":\"kenya\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Teenager Koech shocks Kigen at the KDF championships - kenya","description":"Olympic 3,000m steeplechase bronze medalist and five-time Kenya Defence Forces Championships winner Benjamin Kigen was l ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Teenager Koech shocks Kigen at the KDF championships","og_description":"Olympic 3,000m steeplechase bronze medalist and five-time Kenya Defence Forces Championships winner Benjamin Kigen was l ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships","og_site_name":"kenya","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-05-27T17:17:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-05-27T17:49:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":716,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/sm_1685193444.203418.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Teenager Koech shocks Kigen at the KDF championships","datePublished":"2023-05-27T17:17:46+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-27T17:49:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships"},"wordCount":335,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/sm_1685193444.203418.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Kenya","Kenya"],"articleSection":["all news","sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships","name":"Teenager Koech shocks Kigen at the KDF championships - kenya","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/sm_1685193444.203418.jpg","datePublished":"2023-05-27T17:17:46+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-27T17:49:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Olympic 3,000m steeplechase bronze medalist and five-time Kenya Defence Forces Championships winner Benjamin Kigen was l ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/sm_1685193444.203418.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/sm_1685193444.203418.jpg","width":1000,"height":716,"caption":"Teenager Koech shocks Kigen at the KDF championships"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/teenager-koech-shocks-kigen-at-the-kdf-championships#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Teenager Koech shocks Kigen at the KDF championships"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/","name":"kenya","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}