Olympic 10,000m Silver Medallist Sally Kipyego Became an American Citizen Today

Whoops Just posted on this before seeing this thread

Anyone know how soon she can compete?

Molly huddle does not approve this.

Maybe Betsy Saina will join US soon?

One of the nicest people in the sport, she is

Samuel DeChamplain wrote:

Whoops Just posted on this before seeing this thread

Anyone know how soon she can compete?

Right away! As long as she competes for the motherland.

Do we have any indication if she will be competing for the US? I just looked it up and Kenya does allow dual citizenship so it's not like she's forced to renounce Kenya.

Sally is the paragon of what a naturalized citizen should be. I hope she runs for us and pulls some hardware.

I just tracked down the IAAF transfer rules. Based on my reading of them, it looks like Kipyego could represent the US immediately - without sitting out any time- per 5.4(d)ii - as she's lived in the US for 3 years. Can anyone confirm that's the case?

https://twitter.com/letsrundotcom/status/824439969691340800

If you want to see the whole rule book, it's here.

https://www.iaaf.org/download/download?filename=89ed4cba-6b5e-49fe-a43e-9f5487b77a84.pdf&urlslug=IAAF%20Competition%20Rules%202016-2017%2C%20in%20force%20from%201%20November%202015

thanks trump

LetsRun.com wrote:

America has a new distance star.

Sally Kipyego, who is tied with Suzy Favor Hamilton with the most NCAA titles, and won the silver medal at 10,000m became a US citizen today.

https://twitter.com/sallykipyego/status/824392234346881026

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 Molly Huddle.

I watched sally's career in the Big 12. I think she graduate with a degree in nursing. Good for her

Speaking As A wrote:

One of the nicest people in the sport, she is

Exactly correct.

"I've trained mostly by myself, but also, I was in Flagstaff for two months," she said, listing a few of the American runners she ran with at altitude in Arizona, all of whom are entered in Sunday's race. "I got to run with Janet [Bawcom] and Kim Conley and Lanni [Marchant of Canada]. So there were a few people, and I got to stay with Matt Llano. My husband and I stayed at his house for the training block, so that was fantastic, because we got to run a few times."

Sally Kipyego has a 14:30 5K PR and a 30:26 10K PR.

Shalane Flanagan has a 30:22 10K PR

Molly Huddle has a 30:13 10K PR

In conclusion:

1) Hey everyone. You should watch out. This is a pretty good Flagstaff Female 10K and/or Marathon Irish Human Runner Teamâ„¢:

2) Go Amy Cragg (married to the speedy Irish leprechaun Alistair Cragg)!

3) Go Shalane Flanagan (Irish)!

4) Go Molly Huddle (Irish)!

5) Go Sally Kipyego (Irish)!

rojo wrote:

Do we have any indication if she will be competing for the US? I just looked it up and Kenya does allow dual citizenship so it's not like she's forced to renounce Kenya.

Bit of a sensationalist front page if you don't know that, isn't it?

Sally only competed 2 1/2 semesters in the NCAA!

Her first 1 1/2 semesters was at SOUTH PLAINS COLLEGE in the NJCAA!

Makes her NCAA record even more remarkable.

Not sure I understand why a top Kenyan that came to the US and crushed female distance college running which is predominantly American born white women is considered remarkable. Kipyego had cross country titles in addition to the 5k/ 10k whereas Favor was more mid-distance dominating at the 1500.

I wonder how Kara feels about this?

I love Sally Kipyego. She is a classy lady. I hope she finds the United States to be the same country she has been expecting. Personally, I am getting ready to leave.

pushed to fifth wrote:

I wonder how Kara feels about this?

Kara is probably aware she didn't have a dominating college "career" - she had a dominating junior or senior year

Fentrekker wrote:

I love Sally Kipyego. She is a classy lady. I hope she finds the United States to be the same country she has been expecting. Personally, I am getting ready to leave.

The same country she's been expecting? She's been here 12 years.

I don't consider myself a red-neck, in fact I consider myself a San Francisco born liberal, but I have a problem with foreign born runners taking the spot of a native born American.

Now if she were to have a child in this country and that child was talented enough to make an Olympic or World Championship team I'd have no problem with it.

It's conceivable that you could eventually have an Olympics where all the distance events would have nothing but native born East Africans.

It's nothing against Sally Kipyego. I'm sure's a wonderful person, but so might be the American born runner she deprives of a hard earned spot.

As regards her potentially breaking US records, if she were to decide to keep competing for Kenya, would she be the AR holder if she ran ? After all, any given time would have been run by an American citizen?