S. GitahiFaith Kipyegon's world championship winning spikes donated to MOWA
Reading Time: 2min | Wed. 07.02.24. | 12:59
100m hurdles world champion Grant Holloway's singlet and spike shoe from the championships in the Hungarian capital will also go on display
World 1500m record holder Faith Kipyegon has taken the step to graciously donate her World Championships spikes to the Museum of World Athletics (MOWA) in recognition of the historic double accomplished by the Kenyan phenomenon in Budapest, Hungary, last year.
The announcement, made by World Athletics on Tuesday, sees her fulfill her act of generosity, as she was among four Budapest medalists from a larger group of 23 athletes who were inducted into MOWA in December 2023.
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With that, their historic items and competition artifacts would be entered into the World Athletics Heritage Collection, which is displayed on the online 3D platform of MOWA.
MOWA is the first sports museum to be established in the digital world, bringing a new level of innovation and creative technologies to the world of sports.
The museum gives visitors a unique 3D online experience, highlighting key athletic champions from each continent and celebrating each edition of the World Athletics Championships.
Going on exhibition will therefore be Kipyegon’s bright pink running spikes, which she memorably ran on in a thrilling 5000m final, timing an impressive 14:53.88 to finish ahead of Olympic champion Sifan Hassan and world cross country champion Beatrice Chebet.
After the race on Saturday, August 26, in the mixed zone in Budapest’s National Athletics Centre, Kipyegon removed her shoes and gifted them to her friend Sandrine Prokopowicz.
Matching the Kenyan’s kindness, Prokopowicz – who is World Athletics’ Technical Services Manager, in turn donated the spikes to the MOWA.
The development follows a move by a distinguished group of Scottish champion athletes: 2014 European 400m hurdles gold medalist Eilidh Doyle, 1993 world indoor champions Yvonne Murray-Mooney (3000m) and Tom McKean (800m), and 1980 Olympic 100m champion Allan Wells, who presented their competition artifacts to the MOWA Indoor Athletics Exhibition in Glasgow last weekend.
The aforementioned Museum of World Athletics exhibition is open to the public for a month, closing at the end of the last day of the World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 24 (March 1–3).
