Jepchirchir out to defend Sportswoman of the year award in a star-studded lineup

Tokyo 2020 Olympics champion Peres Jepchirchir will be looking to defend her Sportswoman of the year award after earning yet another nomination ahead of the awards set for January in Kakamega.

Jepchirchir has crowned the Outstanding Sportswoman of the year 2020 in a low-key Sports Personality of the Year (SOYA) gala held in Naivasha in February this year.

She will be coming up against rally driver Maxine Wahome, Faith Kipyegon, Jentrix Shikangwa, Angela Okutoyi, and Sharon Chepchumba for the award in the ladies category.

Kipyegon, the Olympic 1,500 meters record holder, has enjoyed a spectacular 2021 as she also bagged the 2021 Diamond League title at the Zürich Weltklasse as she fended off strong opposition from Dutch athlete Sifa Hassan apart from bringing home the Olympics gold in the same discipline.

Jepchirchir capped her spectacular year by winning the 2021 New York City Marathon with a time of 2:22:39, becoming the first person to win the Olympic gold medal and the New York City Marathon in the same year.

Shikangwa had a good season in the league with Vihiga Queens as well as in the inaugural CAF Women Champions League, scoring the all-important goal that saw the three-time KWPL champions emerge winners in the CECAFA region qualifiers of the continental competition.

She was also phenomenal for the Vihiga-based team in the main even in Egypt despite exiting the competition in the group stage.

Teenage sensation Okutoyi became the first Kenyan to lift the African Junior Tennis Championship after seeing off Moroccan Aya El Anouni 6-3, 6-3 in the singles final of the 2021 Africa Junior Under-18 Championships in Sousse, in November, on top of a stellar year.

Chepchumba had a good outing with Malkia Strikers in Tokyo during the Olympics and capped it with another perfect performance at the Women's African Nations Championship where she was named the best attacker at the end of the competition.