Benjamin Kiplagat, who represented Uganda in three Olympic Games and six world championships in the 3000m steeplechase, was stabbed to death in Kenya. He was 34.

According to a Kenyan news report, Moiben Sub-County Police Commander Stephen Okal indicated that Kiplagat was found inside his brother’s car near Kimumu Secondary School on the outskirts of Eldoret along Eldoret-Iten Road, and that his body showed signs of deep knife cuts to the neck and chest.

Media reports said he had been training in the area before planning to return to Uganda to begin competing.

His death is currently under investigation.

In a statement, World Athletics said it was, "shocked and saddened" by news of Kiplagat's death.

Kiplagat was a well-decorated athlete over the course of a 17-year running career. In 2008, he won silver in the steeple at the World U20 Championships and made the final at the Beijing Olympics. He was a semifinalist at the London Games four years later and competed at the Rio Olympics in 2016. He won bronze at the 2012 African Championships and made World Championships finals in 2009 and 2011.

Kiplagat, who had not raced since 2021, ran his personal best of 8:03.81 in a runner-up finish at the Diamond League meeting in Lausanne in 2010. The average of the top 10 of his 93 career performances was 8:10.51.