Cheptegei, who finished 44th in Paris, was admitted to a hospital in the Kenyan Rift Valley city of Eldoret after the attack.
Cheptegei “passed today morning at 5.30am after her organs failed”, Owen Menach, senior director of clinical services at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, told Reuters, adding that a full report regarding the circumstances of her death would soon be released.
Peter Ogwang, Uganda’s minister of state for sports, described her death as “tragic”.
“Kenyan authorities are investigating the circumstances under which she died and a more detailed report and programme will be provided in due course,” he said.
Cheptegei’s death shines a spotlight on violence experienced by sportswomen in Kenya, where she lived when she trained.
In October 2021, Olympian runner Agnes Tirop, a rising star in Kenya’s highly competitive athletics scene, was found dead in her home in the town of Iten, with multiple stab wounds to the neck.
Ibrahim Rotich, her husband, was charged with her murder and has pleaded not guilty. The case is ongoing.
The 25-year-old’s killing shocked Kenya, with current and former athletes setting up “Tirop’s Angels” in 2022 to combat domestic violence.
Joan Chelimo, one of the founders of the non-profit, told Reuters that female athletes were at high risk of exploitation and violence at the hands of men drawn to their money.
“They get into these traps of predators who pose in their lives as lovers,” she said.
