Tirop, a two-time world bronze medallist and world 10 kilometres record holder, was buried at a funeral service in Nandi county in Kenya on what would have been her 26th birthday after her body was found with stab wounds to her neck and stomach on October 13.

Her death has sent shockwaves through the sport with her husband Ibrahim Rotich appearing in court this week after allegedly murdering the long-distance runner.

Double Olympic champion David Rudisha of Kenya and Ugandan gold medallists Joshua Cheptegei and Peruth Chemutai were among the people to gather at Tirop’s childhood village of Mosoriot to bid farewell to the athletics star.

Yesterday, a prayer session was held at the Eldoret Hospital Mortuary before Kenyan athletes and coaches joined impassioned pleas for an end to violence against women.

According to reports, a procession lasted almost two hours as mourners - wearing the red shirts of Athletics Kenya - held a large banner with the phrase "End Gender-Based Violence" through the streets of Eldoret.

"The injustice against female athletes here in Kenya is a threat to all of us athletes all over the world," said Cheptegei.

"We are here in solidarity to show that we condemn such acts in such a manner."

Rotich is alleged to have stabbed Tirop multiple times, leaving her mutilated body on the bed of their house in Iten before trying to escape.

According to officials, Rotich was arrested just before 9pm on Thursday (October 14) after crashing his vehicle into a truck in a car chase with police.

He allegedly attempted to escape from officers trying to apprehend him about 460 kilometres from Mombasa.

Police claim the 41-year-old was trying to flee the country.

It has been suggested that a plot to kill Tirop could have been hatched during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, after it was found that most of her property had changed ownership while she was competing in the Japanese capital.

Jeremiah Sawe, a spokesperson for Tirop's family, said they found that parts of the property had changed hands three months ago.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has been praised by Athletics Kenya for helping to speed up the investigation into Tirop’s death.

Athletics Kenya has cancelled all events for two weeks to mark the death of Tirop who has been heralded as a "jewel" in Kenyan athletics.

It also announced that the Kenyan leg of the World Cross Country Tour would be named after Tirop.

Tirop was killed just a month after she smashed the women’s-only 10km world record at an event in Herzogenaurach in Germany, with a time of 30min 01sec.

The Kenyan athlete also competed at this year’s Tokyo 2020 Olympics where she finished fourth in the 5,000m.

She was a double world 10,000m bronze medallist and the winner of the 2015 World Cross Country Championships in Guiyang in China.