Former three-time 1500m world champion Asbel Kiprop has set the record straight regarding the photo he shared online of injuries to his head that implied were sustained in a brawl.

The photo showed stitched cuts on the head of the athlete while aboard a vehicle and bore a cryptic message which sparked speculations from Kenyans who were concerned for the track star. 

“Violence in every tussle will solve nothing. Great battles are won without fighting. Nature is the master and so we are,” he captioned the photo. 

He deleted the post after reports emerged that he had sustained the injuries during a fight at a nightclub in Kapseret, Uasin Gishu County, which he vehemently denied and claimed that he had been injured in a motorcycle accident.

“I sustained the injuries in a motorbike accident at Simat Village in Kapseret last Friday, May 20. I was the one riding the motorcycle,” he said to the Standard.

“People misinterpreted my message. I was not insinuating that I had been harmed in a fight. The truth is I sustained the injuries in a motorcycle accident. I have already sought treatment at an Eldoret hospital, and I’m now recuperating,” he explained about the cryptic caption. 

Kiprop did not file a police report about the incident, which further raises questions over the nature of the accident.

The athlete is no stranger to controversy as he just resumed his training after a three-year doping ban, promising to make a successful return to the track with the cross country race slated for later this year as his first mission.

“The minor bruises on my knee and head have not affected my training programme,” he noted.

He has a lot to make up to cement his comeback owing to the controversies that dogged him while he was serving his ban, including infidelity and threatening the World Athletics and the National Police for his woes.