Rotich was arrested last month, the day after Tirop was stabbed to death at her home at the age of 25 on October 13.

He was then charged with the murder today following a mental assessment.

On October 18, Rotich was remanded in police custody for a period of 20 days, having appeared in court four days after the athlete's death.

The 41-year-old is alleged to have stabbed his wife multiple times.

According to reports, Rotich was arrested in the late evening of October 14 after crashing his vehicle into a truck in a car chase with police and escaping from officers.

Police claim he was trying to flee the country.

Tirop had just returned from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where she finished fourth in the women's 5,000 metres.

Due to the not guilty plea, he has a bail ruling set for December 1.

Tirop was regarded as one of the great Kenyan athletes on the circuit, having won the gold at the 2015 World Cross Country Championships in Guiyang in China.

She also two bronze medals in the 10,000m at back-to-back World Championships in 2017 and 2019.

She was killed just a month after breaking the world record in the women's-only 10km in Herzogenaurach in Germany, with a time of 30min 01sec.

On October 23, Tirop was buried in her home village in Mosoriot, with double Olympic champion Kenyan David Rudisha and Ugandan gold medallists Joshua Cheptegei and Peruth Chemutai among the thousands who paid their respects.

Mourners at the funeral held a large banner stating "End Gender-Based Violence", which they marched through the streets of Eldoret.