Kenyan athlete Willy Mnangat has refuted allegations of collusion to let China’s He Jie win the Beijing Half Marathon.
Mnangat clarified that he, along with Robert Keter and Dejene Hailu, were contracted as pacesetters to assist Jie in breaking the Chinese half-marathon record.
He emphasized that they were not competing but rather setting the pace for Jie.
Mnangat expressed surprise when organizers listed him as a competitor instead of a pacemaker.
“My job was to set the pace and help the guy win but unfortunately, he did not achieve the target, which was to break the national record,” he told the media outlet.
While investigations are ongoing, Mnangat is the sole athlete to speak out since the allegations surfaced.
Earlier, Mnangat admitted to letting Jie win because of their friendship.
Organizers of the Beijing Half Marathon have since launched an investigation into allegations of race-fixing involving.
In images circulating on social media, Ethiopian athlete Dejene Hailu and Kenyan athletes Robert Keter and Willy Mnangat appeared to deliberately allow Chinese athlete He Jie to win the half-marathon race on Sunday.
The three African athletes were seen slowing down as they approached the finish line, signaling for He to catch up to them and cross the finish line together.
He, the gold medalist of the 2023 Asian Games marathon, was then congratulated by the three African athletes after winning the race by seconds.
Some social media users in China criticized his victory as “shameful” and unsportsmanlike, amid speculation that the competition’s results were manipulated.
“We are investigating and will announce the results to the public as soon as they are available,” a representative of the Beijing Sports Bureau told AFP on Monday.
The marathon race coordinator also confirmed that an investigation had been launched, AFP reported.
