Athletics Kenya (AK) is the governing body for the sport of athletics (track and field) in Kenya. It is a member of the IAAF and Confederation of African Athletics. AK organises athletics competitions held in Kenya. It also sends Kenyan teams to international championships. Isaiah Kiplagat is the current chairman of Athletics Kenya. AK is headquartered in Riadha House, next to Nyayo National Stadium, Nairobi.

Athletics (track and field) in Kenya was governed by an organization known as Kenya Amateur Athletics Association (KAAA) from 1951 until 2002 when the organization changed the name to Athletics Kenya (AK). Arthur (Archie) Evans is credited for starting organized athletics and forming Kenya Amateur Athletics Association (KAAA) in 1951. Evans became the secretary of the newly formed KAAA and the late Sir Derek Erskine became its first chairman.

Kenya is a powerful nation in Athletics, but the talent is limited to long and middle distance running. Famous Kenyan runners typically come from districts like Keiyo, Marakwet and Nandi in western Kenya. Almost all of them represent Kalenjin tribes.

Kenya ( /ˈkɛnjə/ or /ˈkiːnjə/), officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator. With the Indian Ocean to its south-east, it is bordered by Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, South Sudan to the north-west, Ethiopia to the north and Somalia to the north-east. Kenya has a land area of 580,000 km² and a population of nearly 41 million, representing 42 different peoples and cultures. The country is named after Mount Kenya, a significant landmark and second among Africa's highest mountain peaks. Kenya's capital and largest city is Nairobi.

Kenya has a warm and humid climate along its coastline on the Indian Ocean which changes to wildlife-rich savannah grasslands moving inland towards the capital Nairobi. Nairobi has a cool climate that gets colder approaching Mount Kenya, which has three permanently snow-capped peaks. The warm and humid tropical climate reappears further inland towards lake Victoria, before giving way to temperate forested and hilly areas in the western region. The North Eastern regions along the border with Somalia and Ethiopia are arid and semi-arid areas with near-desert landscapes. Lake Victoria, the world's second largest fresh-water lake (after Lake Superior in the US and Canada) and the world's largest tropical lake, is situated to the southwest and is shared with Uganda and Tanzania. Kenya is famous for its safaris and diverse world-famous wildlife reserves such as Tsavo National Park, the Maasai Mara, Nakuru National Park, and Aberdares National Park.

Douglas Wakiihuri (born September 26, 1963 in Mombasa) is a former Kenyan long-distance runner, who won the gold medal in the marathon at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics in Rome. No other male Kenyan runner had ever won the marathon at World Championships or Olympic Games until 2007, when Luke Kibet became a world champion. The following year, Wakiihuri won the silver medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, finishing behind Gelindo Bordin.

In 1989 Wakiihuri won the London Marathon. In 1990 he won the New York Marathon.

Wakiihuri was famous for wearing white gloves during races.

Wincatherine Nyambura Ndereba (born July 21, 1972) is a Kenyan marathon runner. She has twice won the marathon at the World Championships in Athletics and won silver medals in the Olympics in 2004 and 2008. She is also a four-time winner of the Boston Marathon. Ndereba broke the women's marathon world record in 2001, running 2:18:47 at the Chicago Marathon.

In 2008, Ndereba was described by a Chicago Tribune sportswriter as the greatest women's marathoner of all time.

Ndereba is from Gatunganga in Nyeri District, and went to Ngorano Secondary School where she pursued her running career. In 1994, she was recruited into its athletics program by the Kenya Prisons Service. Ndereba was awarded the 2004 and 2005 Kenyan Sportswoman of the Year awards. She was awarded the Order of the Golden Warrior by president Mwai Kibaki in 2005.

Ndereba finished seventh at the 2009 London Marathon, equalling Katrin Dorre's record of 21 sub-2:30 hours marathons. She placed third at the Yokohama Marathon later that year, finishing the course in a time of 2:29:13 hours. She did not manage to finish another marathon race until October 2011, when she crossed the line in 2:30:14 hours for third at the Beijing Marathon.