| Winfred Yavi | |
| Honorific Suffix: | OLY |
| Full Name: | Winfred Mutile Yavi |
| Birth Date: | 31 December 1999 |
| Birth Place: | Nairobi, Kenya |
| Height: | 1.59 m |
| Weight: | 49kg |
| Country: | Bahrain |
| Sport: | Athletics |
| Event: | 3000 metres steeplechase |
Winfred Mutile Yavi (Arabic: وينفريد يافي, born 31 December 1999)[1] is a Kenyan-born Bahraini female athlete who specialises in the 3000 metres steeplechase. Currently the second fastest athlete in history at the distance with a personal best of 8:44.39, she won the gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics, setting a new Olympic record. She won the gold medal at the 2023 World Athletics Championships.
Yavi hails from Ukia, Makueni County.[2] Born in Kenya, Winfred Yavi transferred her allegiance to Bahrain at the age of fifteen, becoming eligible to compete for her adopted nation in August 2016.[3] She competed in the 3000 m steeplechase at the 2017 World Championships at the age of 17, and finished eighth in a personal best time of 9:22.67. Yavi was the bronze medallist in her specialist event at the 2018 World Under-20 Championships.[4] She also improved her personal best significantly in 2018, running 9:10.74 at the Monaco Diamond League.
In 2019, Yavi won gold in both the 5000 m and 3000 m steeplechase, as well as a bronze in the 1500 m at the 2019 Asian Athletics Championships.[5] She set a new personal best of 9:07.23 in finishing third at the Müller Grand Prix. She finished fourth in the 3000 m steeplechase at the 2019 World Championships held in Doha.[6] She won a gold medal in the 3000 m steeplechase and a silver medal in the 5000 m at the World Military Games.
Yavi ran a new personal best of 9:02.64 in finishing third at the 2021 Doha Diamond League.[7] She finished tenth in the final at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics.[8]
In 2022, Yavi ran her first sub-9 minute 3000 m steeplechase at the Prefontaine Classic, running a time of 8:58.71. She followed this up by winning the Paris Diamond League with a time of 8:56.55.[9] She finished fourth in the final at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene.[10]
The following year, Yavi won gold in her specialty event at the 2023 World Championships with a personal best time of 8:54.29.[11] She went onto win at the Zurich Diamond League,[12] and the Prefontaine Classic where she improved her personal best to 8:50.66, the second fastest time in history at the time.[13] Yavi ended her season by winning gold in both the 1500 m and 3000 m steeplechase at the Asian Games.[14] [15]
In June 2024, Yavi set a new 5000 m personal best of 14:41.99 in Liège.[16] She won gold in the 3000 m steeplechase at the 2024 Paris Olympics in an Olympic record time of 8:52.76.[17] [18] She won at the Rome Diamond League in a time of 8:44.39, breaking her own national record by over 6 seconds and only missing out on the world record by 0.07 seconds.[19] Yavi went on to place second at the Diamond League final in Brussels, finishing behind Faith Cherotich.[20]
All information from World Athletics profile.
| 2017 | World Championships | London, United Kingdom | 8th | 3000 m s'chase | 9:22.67 | ||
| 2018 | World U20 Championships | Tampere, Finland | 3rd | 3000 m s'chase | 9:23.47 | ||
| Asian Games | Jakarta, Indonesia | bgcolor=gold | 1st | 3000 m s'chase | 9:36.52 | ||
| Continental Cup | Ostrava, Czech Republic | 3rd | 3000 m s'chase | 9:17.86 | |||
| 2019 | Arab Championships | Cairo, Egypt | bgcolor=gold | 1st | 5000 m | 17:15.08 | |
| bgcolor=gold | 1st | 3000 m s'chase | 10:07.62 | ||||
| Asian Championships | Doha, Qatar | 3rd | 1500 m | 4:16.18 | |||
| bgcolor=gold | 1st | 5000 m | 15:28.87 | ||||
| bgcolor=gold | 1st | 3000 m s'chase | 9:46.18 | ||||
| World Championships | Doha, Qatar | 4th | 3000 m s'chase | 9:05.68 | |||
| Military World Games | Wuhan, China | bgcolor=silver | 2nd | 5000 m | 15:15.93 | ||
| bgcolor=gold | 1st | 3000 m s'chase | 9:19.24 | ||||
| 2021 | Olympic Games | Tokyo, Japan | 10th | 3000 m s'chase | 9:19.74 | ||
| 2022 | World Championships | Eugene, OR, United States | 4th | 3000 m s'chase | 9:01.31 | ||
| Islamic Solidarity Games | Konya, Turkey | bgcolor=gold | 1st | 3000 m s'chase | 9:34:57 | ||
| 2023 | Arab Games | Oran, Algeria | bgcolor=gold | 1st | 3000 m s'chase | 9:04.58 | |
| World Championships | Budapest, Hungary | bgcolor=gold | 1st | 3000 m s'chase | 8:54.29 | ||
| Asian Games | Hangzhou, China | bgcolor=gold | 1st | 1500 m | 4:11.65 | ||
| bgcolor=gold | 1st | 3000 m s'chase | 9:18.28 | ||||
| 2024 | Olympic Games | Paris, France | bgcolor=gold | 1st | 3000 m s'chase | 8:52.76 | |
3000 m steeplechase wins, other events specified in parentheses