Benjamin Kiplagat

Ugandan long-distance runner Benjamin Kiplagat was a specialist in the 3,000 metres steeplechase. Kiplagat began his career by running in the 10,000 metres at the 2004 World Junior Championships. Following advice from his coach he then started to compete in races from 1,500 metres to 5,000 metres. After a sixth-place finish at the Ugandan Junior Cross Country Championships he ran at the 2006 World Cross Country Championships, marking his international début. The same year he also ran at the World Junior Championships where he set a national junior record.

In 2008 Kiplagat finished in fourth place at the World Cross Country Championships. In the same year he was selected to run in the 3,000 metres steeplechase at the Beijing Olympics where he finished in ninth place in the final. In 2009, despite disruption from malaria and typhoid, Kiplagat still managed to lower the national steeplechase record. The following year he again suffered with malaria, but managed to set another national record, as well as finishing in fourth place at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Kiplagat qualified for the final of the 3,000 metres steeplechase at the 2012 London Olympics. The race, however, was forgettable for him as he fell over a barrier and was later disqualified for an infringement of the inside border. He ran at his third and final Olympics in 2016 in Rio but failed to advance from his heat. In December 2023 Kiplagat was withdrawing money from a bank in Eldoret, Kenya, when he was ambushed by two men and stabbed to death. He was 34-years-old.

Personal Best: 3000S – 8:03.81 (2010).