Benjamin Kigen (born July 5, 1993) is a Kenyan

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

who competes primarily in the

3000 metres steeplechase The 3000 metres steeplechase or 3000-meter steeplechase (usually Abbreviation, abbreviated as ) is the most common distance for the steeplechase (athletics), steeplechase in track and field. It is an obstacle race over the distance of the 3000 met ...

. He won the bronze medal at the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. Kigen took gold at the 2019 All-Africa Games. He is from

Baringo County Baringo County is one of the 47 Counties of Kenya, counties in Kenya. It is located in the former Rift Valley Province. Its headquarters and largest town is Kabarnet. The county is home to Lake Baringo, Lake Bogoria and Lake Kamnarok. Geographi ...

, Kenya and trains with

Amos Kirui Amos Kirui (born 9 February 1998) is a Kenyan distance runner who competes in the 3000 metres steeplechase. He was the gold medallist at the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships, extending his nation's grip on the event since 1988.Ramsak, Bob (24 ...

under coach Isaac Rono. Kigen won the 3000 m steeplechase at the 2018

Prefontaine Classic The Prefontaine Classic is a track and field meet held at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Organized by the Oregon Track Club, it was previously one of the IAAF Grand Prix events, and ...

, beating 2017 world champion

Conseslus Kipruto Conseslus Kipruto (born 8 December 1994) is a Kenyan Middle-distance running, middle-distance runner who specializes in the 3000 metres steeplechase. He was the Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics, 2016 Rio Olympic champion in the event. At t ...

and 2016 Olympic silver medalist

Evan Jager Evan Reese Jager (born March 8, 1989) is an American Middle-distance running, middle- and Long-distance running, long-distance Running, runner who specializes in the 3000 metres steeplechase. In his speciality event, he won a silver medal at the ...

with a 57.89 second last lap. He qualified to represent Kenya at the

, where he won the bronze medal in his specialist event with a time of 8:11.45, behind

Soufiane El Bakkali Soufiane El Bakkali (; born 7 January 1996) is a Moroccan middle-distance runner who specializes in the 3000 metres steeplechase. He is a two-time Olympic champion, having won gold in the event at both the 2020 Tokyo and 2024 Paris Olympics. H ...

(8:08.90) and

Lamecha Girma Lamecha Girma (born 26 November 2000) is an Ethiopian athlete who specialises in the 3,000 metres steeplechase. He is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medallist in the event and won silver medals at the 2019, 2022 and 2023 World Athletics Champion ...

(8:10.38). His personal best is 8:05.12 (Monaco 2019).

Achievements

International competitions

Circuit wins and titles, National championships

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fifteen invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics one-day meet competitions. The inaugural season was ...

champion 3000 m steeplechase: Diamond blue

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

:: 3000 metres steeplechase wins, other events specified in parentheses :*

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

: Eugene Prefontaine Classic (), Rabat Meeting :*

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

: Rome Golden Gala :*

Meeting de Paris Meeting de Paris (formerly known as the Meeting Areva and Meeting Gaz de France) is an annual track and field meeting at the Stade Sébastien Charléty in Paris, France. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the Di ...

, Zürich Weltklasse *

Kenyan Athletics Championships The Kenyan Athletics Championships is an annual track and field meeting which serves as Kenya's national championships for the sport. Athletics Kenya, the country's governing body for athletics organises the event. The championships is usually hel ...

3000 m steeplechase The 3000 metres steeplechase or 3000-meter steeplechase (usually abbreviated as ) is the most common distance for the steeplechase in track and field. It is an obstacle race over the distance of the 3000 metres, which derives its name from the ...

: 2019

Personal bests

800 metres The 800 metres, or 800 meters (American and British English spelling differences#-re.2C -er, US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of a ...

– 1:57.51 (

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

2021) *

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilomet ...

– 3:36.36 (

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

2017) *

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000 m sho ...

– 7:54.02 (

Baie-Mahault Baie-Mahault (; ) is a commune in the overseas department and region of Guadeloupe, France. It is the second most populated commune of Guadeloupe, after Les Abymes. The extensive industrial zone of Jarry in Baie-Mahault is by far the most indust ...

2018) *

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a sta ...

– 14:02.78 (

2022) *

– 8:05.12 (

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

2019)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kigen, Benjamin Living people 1993 births Kenyan male steeplechase runners Athletes (track and field) at the 2019 African Games African Games gold medalists for Kenya Sportspeople from Baringo County African Games gold medalists in athletics (track and field) African Games athletes for Kenya Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Kenya Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic athletes for Kenya Diamond League winners Military World Games gold medalists for Kenya Military World Games medalists in athletics (track and field) 21st-century Kenyan sportsmen