Despite suffering her first defeat of the season to Olympic champion Winfred Yavi, Olympic bronze medallist Faith Cherotich is doubling down on her resolve to claim flawless victory when the duo meet again.
The 20-year-old has been in fine form since kicking off her 2025 campaign, claiming a hat-trick of victories on the Diamond League circuit back-to-back. She opened her campaign on May 16 at the Doha meeting, where she stopped the clock in 9:05.08, finishing ahead of Olympic champion Winfred Yavi (9:05.26) and Ethiopia's Sembo Almayew (9:09.27).
Cherotich followed it up with yet another decisive victory in Oslo on June 12, finishing in 9:02.60. She outkicked Yavi yet again, with the Bahraini clocking 9:02.76 for second place, whereas Tunisia's Marwa Bouzayani (9:06.84) completed the podium places. Her third victory came at the Paris meeting on June 20, where she cut the tape in 8:53.37.
She was well ahead of Uganda's Peruth Chemutai (8:54.41) and Almayew (9.01.22). However, the streak ended at the Prefontaine Classic on July 5, where Yavi turned the tables with a world-leading 8:45.25, leaving Cherotich to settle for second in a personal best 8:48.71. Chemutai followed in third place, clocking 8:51.77.
Despite the defeat, Cherotich remained upbeat and fired a warning shot ahead of their next encounters. "I was not feeling good in the race, but for the next race, I am going to prepare. The pace of the race was high, and I did not manage to keep up with Yavi."
"For the next race, I am going to train and polish up my areas of weakness, then come back stronger," Cherotich said post-race. The youngster took pride in her new lifetime best.
"The race was good. I am very happy with my performance and happy I was able to run a personal best," she said. "I would like to say thank you to my colleagues, and I want to congratulate them for a good race because it was not an easy pace."
With eyes firmly set on the Tokyo 2025 World Championships, Cherotich is gunning to turn her bronze from Budapest 2023 into gold. In Hungary, she clocked 9:00.69 for third behind Yavi (8:54.29) and world record holder Beatrice Chepkoech (8:58.98).
Cherotich's next race will come on July 22, where she has been invited to compete at the national trials for the World Championships, hoping to secure her ticket for a second appearance at the global show.
Among other steeplechasers invited for the show are 2024 NCAA 3,000m steeplechase champion Doris Lemngole and 2023 World Cross Country bronze medallist Pamela Kosgei. Other invited athletes include Caren Chebet, Celestine Biwot, Jackline Chepkoech, Leah Jeruto, Diana Chepkemoi and Sharon Chepkemoi.
