Agnes Tirop, aged 25, has been found dear at her home in Iten, western Kenya.
Tirop won 10,000m bronze at the World Athletics Championships in 2017 and 2019, and finished fourth in the 5,000m at the Tokyo Olympics this year
Kenya’s track federation said on Wednesday that it was still working to uncover details of the incident but it had been informed of Tirop’s death. She was 25.
Her body was found at her home in Iten in western Kenya, a town renowned as a training base for distance runners.
Police did not immediately give out any details other than to say they were investigating.
Athletics Kenya said the country had “lost a jewel”.
Tirop won bronze medals in the women’s 10,000m at the 2017 and 2019 World Championships and finished fourth in the 5,000m at the Tokyo Olympics.
Last month, Tirop broke the world record in the women-only 10km road race.
Her career took off when she won the world cross-country title in 2015 at the age of 19 to become the second youngest champion ever.