America Has a New Distance Star: Olympic 10,000m Silver Medallist Sally Kipyego Now a Citizen
by LetsRun.com
January 25, 2017
America has a new distance star.
Sally Kipyego, the former Texas Tech star who won nine NCAA titles (tied with Suzy Favor Hamilton for the most in NCAA history) and won the silver medal at 10,000m at the 2012 Olympics in London for Kenya, announced on Twitter today that she is now an American citizen.
It has been 12 years and 8 days since I first landed in America. Today I became a US citizen!… https://t.co/H2xq7H8H94
— sally kipyego (@sallykipyego) January 25, 2017
Kipyego’s 5000m PB (14:30) is faster than the American record (14:38) and her 10,000m pb (30:26) would put her #3 all-time in the US.
Kipyego’s emphasis now however is on the marathon and she finished second at the New York City Marathon this past fall, one spot ahead of now fellow American Molly Huddle. The big question to be answered is will she represent the US in international competition? Kenya’s new constitution, unlike the old one, allows dual citizenship so Sally is still a Kenyan citizen.
This article has been updated to reflect that the Kenyan constitution allows dual citizenship.
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