'Unbeatable' Faith Kipyegon wins third world 1500m gold
First-placed Kenya's Faith Kipyegon celebrates with her gold medal after winning the women's 1500m final during the World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest on August 22, 2023.
What you need to know:
- The gold was Kenya's first at these championships, and Kipyegon's third making her the most successful female athlete over the distance.
Kenya’s Olympic and world 1,500 metres champion Faith Kipyegon keeps on re-writing history books.
Kipyegon, with her traditional strong front-running style, blew away the field to retain her world 1,500m title on Tuesday in Budapest, Hungary.
Kenya's Faith Kipyegon poses with her national flag after winning the women's 1500m final during the World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest on August 22, 2023.
Kipyegon, the world record holder in 1,500m, 5,000m and One Mile, went for victory after previous wins in 2017 London and 2022 Oregon, in three minutes and 54.87 seconds at a packed National Athletics Centre in Budapest.
The achievement saw the 29-year-old, who also holds Olympic 1,500m gold medals from the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Summer Games, make history as her first woman to seal a hat-trick of titles in the metric mile race.
Firs-placed Kenya's Faith Kipyegon celebrates after winning the women's 1500m final during the World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest on August 22, 2023.
Kipyegon finished ahead of silver medallist Diribe Welteji of Ethiopia in 3:55.69 as Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan took bronze in 3:56.00, just as she did at the Olympics.
Kipyegon will later this week bid to become the first woman to sweep the 1,500m and 5,000m at one world championship.
Bronze medallist Netherlands' Sifan Hassan (right) stands with gold medallist Kenya's Faith Kipyegon after the women's 1500m final during the World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest on August 22, 2023.
Just this year alone, the Kenyan has obliterated three world records since June.
Two of those marks, in the women’s 1,500m and 5,000m, are now officially in the record books. Her women’s One Mile record set in Monaco on July 21, is pending ratification.
The first of Kipyegon’s world records was set at the Florence Diamond League meeting on June 2, this year. On that occasion, the 2016 and 2020 Olympic champion ran 3:49.11 to break the women’s world 1,500m record of 3:50.07 that had been set by Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba in Monaco on July 17, 2015.
Her achievement in the Metric Mile race in Florence officially cemented her legacy as the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) in women’s middle-distance running after adding the world record to her collection.
Just one week later, she raced at the Paris Diamond League, on June 9 and stepped up to the 5, 000m.
While her original aim might not have been the world record of 14:06.62 set by Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey in Valencia on October 7, 2020, Kipyegon still broke it, running 14:05.20 in just her third-ever race at the distance.
Kenya's Faith Kipyegon celebrates winning the women's 1500m final during the World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest on August 22, 2023.
Kipyegon clocked 4:07.64 seconds to obliterate the previous One Mile record of 4:12.33 set by Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan at the same venue in 2019.
Her journey to the top sounds like a fairy tale, having started with a sweep of the world under-18 and under-20 titles in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
After finishing fifth in 4:05.08 on her debut at the World Athletics Championships in 2013 Moscow, Kipyegon would strike silver at the 2015 Beijing world event in 4:08.96 to signal her entry to the big stage.
She would the following year become the first Kenyan to win the Olympic gold since Jebet Lagat in 2008 Beijing, clocking 4:08.92 for victory during the 2016 Rio Summer Games, stunning Dibaba, who settled for silver.
Kipyegon took a maternity break to deliver a bouncing daughter Alyen with her husband Timothy Kitum, the 2012 London Olympic Games 800m bronze medallist.
She then returned to settle for silver in a National Record time of 3:54.22 despite losing the world title to Hassan, who also chalked an Area Record and Championship Record of 3:51.95 at the 2019 Doha World Championships.
Kenya's Faith Kipyegon celebrates as she crosses the finish line and win the women's 1500m final during the World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest on August 22, 2023.
The Kenyan never let her foot off the gas pedal to retain her Olympic title in Tokyo last year in an Olympic Record of 3:53.11.
Then her performance at the world championships in Oregon would cement her place in the history of the women’s 1,500m race.
However, despite being regarded as one of the all-time greats in the women’s 1,500m, Kipyegon wasn’t satisfied with the world record still elusive.
She has chalked 17 Diamond League victories since her debut in 2015 which include her Series wins in 2015, 2017, 2021 and 2022.
Bio
Name: Faith Cheng’etich Kipyegon
Date of birth: January 10, 1994
Race: 1,500m, 5,000m
Coach: Patrick Sang
Camp/Management: Global Sports Communication
Favourite music: “Try Everything" by Colombian musician Shakira.
Favourite food: Ugali, beef stew, Managu, Mursik
Source of inspiration: Her parents, Samuel and Linah Koech, and daughter Alyen.
