She won a junior cross country race on home turf in Kericho in late 2009, but failed to reach the top three at the 2010 Kenyan Trials. Her fourth-place finish was enough to gain a place on the team for the 2010 World Cross Country Championships. Cherono rose to the occasion at the World Championships in Bydgoszcz, the same location as her 2008 World Junior win. She led with her Kenyan teammates for much of the race and she won by a margin of seven seconds, leading home a 1–2–3–4 victory for the Kenyan team. Despite the significant winning margin, she did not need to push herself to the victory, later saying: "In the second lap, I had a lot left". She made her first outing on the IAAF Diamond League circuit in May, running a personal best of 14:47.13 for seventh in the 5000 metres at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix. At the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics, Cherono became the first woman to retain the 3000 m junior title as she held off a challenge from Emebet Anteneh to become the first gold medallist of the event. She also won a silver medal in the 5000 m, finishing behind Genzebe Dibaba.