24 year old Timothy Cheruiyot is the current 1500m Olympic Silver medalist, World Champion and 4x Diamond League winner.   He has been the number 1 ranked athlete in the World over 1500m and the mile since 2018.

Cast back to the the Distance Medley Relay (DMR) at the 2015 IAAF World Relays Championships, in the Bahamas and you’ll see the emergence of a new star on the track. 1st time to represent Kenya. 1st time to travel by plane. 1st time to run a DMR. Intended aim for the 20 year old? Rewrite Kenya’s existing World Record.  The WR fell to Team USA and Timothy achieves silver and gains a valuable learning experience. A hunger to improve instilled. More experience required.

A re-match with Blankenship 3 weeks later at the Prefontaine Classic, International Mile, Eugene meant 3rd overall and a solid debut mile time of 3.53 but with his eyes focussed on making the World Championships in Beijing. It happened.  Both early qualification rounds navigated.  A place in the 1500m final. 7th in the World at the end of his first 2015 season.

2016 brought a win at the Rabat Diamond League, a silver medal at the African Championships, Durban and 2nd in the Anniversary Games Ermsley Car mile, London. An excruciatingly close 4th place at the Kenyan Olympic Trials meant Rio was not to be. But another breakthrough to end this season – a win and PB at the Diamond League finals in Brussels (3.31.34). 4th fastest in the world to end the 2016 year.

By the end of the 2017 season Timothy was 2nd fastest in the world over 1500m and 3rd fastest over the mile, a world Silver medalist and Stockholm and Zurich Diamond League finals winner.

In 2018 Timothy was unbeaten in all Diamond League and domestic races culminating in his succesful defense of his Diamond League trophy. He ended the year ranked 1 in the 1500 and mile with the fastest times of the season – 3.28.41 and 3.49.87 respectively. These achievements meant his nomination as one of ten athletes who competed for the IAAF Athlete of the Year Award, 2018.

In 2019 Timothy remained World No. 1 in 1500m but also stepped down to the 800m where he ran a PB of 1.43.13 to win the Kenyan National Championships. Front running Lausanne Diamond League to get a 3.28.78 meet record was particuarly memorable  – watch the race here. Plus a succesful defence of his Diamond League trophy was one objective achieved. But the season ending with a Gold medal at the IAAF World Championships in Doha is his biggest achievement and proudest moment to date.  Such was his dominance, his winning margin in Doha was the largest in the history of the World Championships 1500m.

Timothy’s official website is found at: http://timothycheruiyot.com/