Kenyan Olympic champion Conseslus Kipruto has appeared in court on charges of defilement of a 15-year-old girl.

The athlete, who won 3,000m steeplechase gold at Rio 2016, pleaded not guilty to the charges before a magistrate in his home town of Kapsabet on Monday morning. The age of consent in Kenya is 18.

He denied the charges and was released on a $1,800 (KSH 200,000) bond.

His case will be heard in May 2021.

That will be two months before he is scheduled to defend his Olympic title in Tokyo.

The 25-year-old, who is also the reigning double world champion, has only competed in one race this year after contracting Covid-19 before the shortened Diamond League season was set to begin.