Mary Moraa has explained on numerous occasions how athletics changed her fortunes from a life of struggle to relative .
It is not hard to understand why given the millions her hard work has been raking in for her especially in the last two seasons when she became a world champion.
claimed her first world title at the 2023 World Championships, further boosting her credentials after becoming Commonwealth champion the year before, and 2024 was equally successful.
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She could only manage bronze at the Paris 2024 Olympics but on the Diamond League circuit, she was untouchable.
So, how much did Moraa make in prize money from her 2024 season?
Moraa started by winning the Doha Diamond League, earning her $10,000 (Ksh1.3 million) before finishing second at the Prefontaine Classic to bank $6,000 (Ksh774,720), both in 800m.
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She headed to the where she had hopes of winning gold but Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson had other ideas, claiming the title ahead of Ethiopian Tsige Duguma, and the Kenyan queen had to settle for bronze.
Moraa missed out on the $50,000 (Ksh6.5 million) that track and field gold medallists were earning from World Athletics but she would get Ksh1 million from the Kenyan government reward for bronze medallists with gold and silver attracting Ksh3 million and Ksh2 million respectively.
After the Olympics, Moraa shook off the disappointment to record Diamond League wins in Lausanne and Zurich in 800m, taking home a total of $20,000 (Ksh2.6 million) and also tried out the 1,000m in Silesia, which yielded third place and $3,500 (Ksh451,920).
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Kisii Express had also tried her hand in her former speciality, the 400m at the Los Angles Grand Prix earlier in the season and managed second place for $3,000 (Ksh387,360) and she would also a world record in the 600m at the ISTAF Meeting in Berlin in September.
She clocked 1:21.63, to shave 0.14 seconds off the previous mark of 1:23.77 set by South African Caster Semenya in 2017 to earn $2,000 (Ksh258,240) for the win, although her world record bonus was not made public.
Moraa’s two final races of the season earned her more than double what she had banked in all the other events as she took home the giant cheque of $30,000 (Ksh3.9 million) for winning the 800m Diamond League trophy at the final in Brussels then completed her campaign with second place at Athlos.
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At Athlos, a women’s-only track event, Moraa lost the $60,000 winner’s prize to Duguma but went home with $25,000 (Sh3.2 million) for second place, taking her total to $107,000 (Ksh13,872,240) from the 2024 season.
With most athletes already back in training for the 2025 season, the world champion needs no motivation.