Kenyan athlete Willy Mnangat has dismissed claims that he alongside two others let China's He Jie win the Beijing Half Marathon.
The athlete told BBC Sport Africa, that Robert Keter, Dejene Hailu from Ethiopia and himself were the pacesetters during the race. He explained that they had been contracted to help Jie win the race and break the Chinese half-marathon record of 1:02:33.
Mnangat revealed that four had been hired for the pacesetting role but one did not make it to the finish line.
"I was not there to compete. It was not a competitive race for me," he stated.
Additionally, the athlete remarked that he was astonished when the organisers put his name on the bib making it seem like he was one of the competitors.
He noted that he should have been listed as a pace setter to avoid confusing the audience.
However, Mnangat lamented that despite the efforts of the pacesetters, Jie did not break the national record but won the race. Jie finished with a time of 1:03:44 a second ahead of the trio.
"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.
Mnangat is the only athlete among the trio who has spoken since the Beijing organisers announced that they were investigating the claims of race fixing.
Notably, earlier on Mnangat admitted to letting Jie win stating "because he is my friend".
A clip of the trio went viral globally leading to the speculation. In the video, the trio was seen waving him to the finish line.
The trio was also slowing down to seemingly allow Jie to cross the finish line first.
While responding to the claims, World Athletics in a statement emphasised that investigations were ongoing and were being conducted by the relevant authorities.
"The integrity of our sport is the highest priority at World Athletics, while this investigation is ongoing we are unable to provide further comment," read part of the statement.
Jie who is the 2023 Asian Games marathon gold medallist was critised by his fans who argued that if this was true, his reputation would be tainted and his career forever blotted.
