Kenyan distance runner and Olympian Agnes Tirop was found dead in her home on Wednesday. A two-time world championship bronze medalist in the 10,000 meters and fourth-place finisher in the 5,000 meters at the Tokyo Olympics, she was 25 years old.
Tirop’s father reported her missing on Tuesday night. She was later found by police.
Her husband is missing, with Kenyan police treating him as a suspect.
“When [police] got in the house, they found Tirop on the bed and there was a pool of blood on the floor,” Tom Makori, head of police for the area, told reporters. “They saw she had been stabbed in the neck, which led us to believe it was a knife wound, and we believe that is what caused her death. Her husband is still at large, and preliminary investigations tell us her husband is a suspect because he cannot be found. Police are trying to find her husband so he can explain what happened to Tirop.”
According to the BBC, she also had a stab wound to her stomach.
Just last month, the Kenyan broke the world record in the 10K road race by more than 28 seconds in a time of 30:01. She later competed on Oct. 3, coming in second in a 10K in Switzerland.
“Athletics Kenya are distraught to learn about the untimely death of World 10,000m bronze medallist Agnes Tirop,” the country’s athletics body said in a statement. “We are still working to unearth more details surrounding her demise. Kenya has lost a jewel who was one of the fastest-rising athletics giants on the international stage, thanks to her eye-catching performances on the track.”