This time of year, many 18 and 19-year-olds are preparing for their first year of college or university. Kenyan runner Solomon Kipchoge will be experiencing the same firsts as a 28-year-old freshman at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. Kipchoge has a half marathon best faster than the American record and will be 10 years older than the majority of the incoming NCAA recruiting class for the 2024/2025 season, which has caused a stir among athletes.
The 28-year-old holds a half-marathon personal best of 59:37, which was set at the Semi-Marathon de Lille 2023 in France (a World Athletics Elite Label road race). His personal best is faster than any time ever run by an American over the half-marathon distance. (The American record of 59:43 is held by Ryan Hall.)
Kipchoge not coming to the NCAA would be more lucrative for him due to opportunities to sign a professional contract. Eligible NCAA athletes cannot have a professional brand deal with financial compensation; the only way around this is is signing an NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) deal, which isn’t a viable option for international athletes due to their student visa restrictions.
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Although the NCAA has no restrictions on age, eligibility rules grant athletes a period of five years to complete four seasons of their sport. This means that athletes entering university at age 18 (the standard age for graduating high school) will be finished competing at age 23. Athletes who postpone the start of their post-secondary education will still be eligible at an older age–but beginning at age 28 seems like quite a stretch; the Kenyan will be competing against a field with athletes 10 years younger than himself.
Many users on Instagram are unsupportive of Kipchoge’s (very) late start to his degree in agricultural education. “It’s awesome that these guys are getting this opportunity and they should take advantage of it…With that being said, the NCAA regulations are objectively extremely flawed, and there is no reason nearly pro-caliber runners should be competing against teenagers 10+ years younger than them who are straight out of high school,” one comment reads.
Some international athletes still choose to compete in the NCAA (despite financial barriers) to take advantage of opportunities for development–but the Kenyan is already one of the fastest half-marathon runners in the world. In May, Kipchoge took fourth in an elite field at the Rimi Riga Half-Marathon, clocking 1:02:15. Already a world-class athlete, Kipchoge is unlikely to find development opportunities within NCAA-level competition.
