KICC to host 2024 SOYA Awards on Thursday
Kipyegon will be favourite for the award as she is the reigning Olympic 1500 Metre Champion.
Preparations for the Sportsperson of the Year Awards (SOYA) for 2024 that will be held at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) are complete, with organisers expecting a successful event.
The annual event celebrates the achievements of Kenyan sportspersons during a specific calendar year and has built a solid reputation as one of the most merited award ceremonies in the country.
This year will be no different, with organisers stating all is set.
"We have completed preparations and are looking forward to having our sports achievers at the ceremony," the Chairman of the SOYA awards selection panel, Chris Mbaisi, said Wednesday.
This year's theme reads; "Celebrating women’s excellence in sports" owing to the exemplary performances by women athletes in 2024."
“2024 was a busy one for Kenyan sportsmen and women, with the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Junior Starlets qualification for the Under-17 World Cup highlighting the season among the key events," Mbaisi added.
Top-level athletes have been nominated for the various awards that will see 11 different categories feted.
Female athletes Faith Kipyegon and Hellen Obiri have been nominated for the Sportsperson of the Year SOYA award.
Kipyegon will be favourite for the award as she is the reigning Olympic 1500 Metre Champion.
Kipyegon and her double Olympic champion, Beatrice Chebet, will compete for this year's Sportswoman of the Year award.
World marathon record holder Ruth Chepng’etich, Boston Marathon champion Hellen Obiri, and Olympic 3000m steeplechase bronze medalist Faith Cherotich are also nominated.
Chebet set two world records and claimed gold in both the 5000m and 10,000m at the 2024 Olympics, to crown her most successful season to date.
In the Sportsman of the Year category, Olympic 800 metre champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi headlines the list. Wanyonyi won Gold for Kenya at last year's Paris games.
He also deposited the second fastest time ever in the 800 metre race last year. His time of 1.41.11, recorded in Lausanne, Switzerland, in August, was close to David Rudisha's world record time of 1.40.91.
Ronald Kwemoi, and Benson Kipruto are also on the list. They will compete against Basketball star, Nairobi City Thunders’ Albert Odero and boxer Boniface Mugunde.
Mugunde secured Kenya’s first African boxing title since 2017, in the light middleweight category at the Africa Boxing Confederation Championships in Kinshasa, DRC, last year.
He will compete against Odero, who was named the Kenya Basketball Football League KBF MVP.
SOYA Awards nominees for 2024
Sportswoman of the Year
Faith Cherotich
Ruth Chepng’etich
Beatrice Chebet
Hellen Obiri
Faith Kipyegon
Sportsman of the Year
Boniface Mugunde
Albert Odero
Benson Kipruto
Emmanuel Wanyonyi
Ronald Kwemoi
Coach of the Year
Abdallah ‘Viduka’ Otieno
Beldin Ademba
Kevin ‘Bling’ Wambua
Salim Babu
Mildred Cheche
Sportswoman with Disability
Sheila Wanyonyi
Caroline Wanjira
Mercy Anjenjo
Michelle Chepngetich
Valery Olesia
Sportsman with Disability
Samson Ojuka
Kennedy Ogada
Shadrack Kipyegon Mutai
Dedan Ireri Maina
Dennis Cheruiyot
Sports Team, Women
Kenya Women's Amputee Football Team
Kenya Pipeline
Malkia Strikers
Junior Starlets
Police Bullets
Sports Team, Men
Kenya Prisons (Volleyball)
Nairobi Thunder
Rising Stars
Shujaa
Kabras Sugar
School Team, Boys
All Saints Embu
Friends School Kamusinga
Musingu Boys High School
Vihiga High School
St Charles Lwanga
School Team, Girls
Kesogon Secondary School
St Joseph’s Girls High School Kitale
Butere Girls
Tigoi Girls
Kinale Girls' High School
