Easy does it for Faith Kipyegon in 1500m heats in Oregon
Jessica Hull of Team Australia and Faith Kipyegon of Team Kenya compete in the Women's 1500 metres heats on day one of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 at Hayward Field on July 15, 2022 in Eugene, Oregon.
What you need to know:
- It was a flawless performance in Heat 2 for Kipyegon, who is also the Olympic champion, who timed 4:04.53 ahead of Australian Jessica Hull (4:04.64) and Ethiopia's Freweyni Hailu (4:04.85). The top six athletes in each of the three heats qualified for the semi-finals set for Sunday.
- African champion Winny Chebet also made the semi-finals after finishing second in Heat 3 behind Ethiopia's World Indoor champion Gudaf Tsegay.
Faith Kipyegon kicked off her bid to reclaim the women's 1500 metres title with a commanding gun-to-tape performance in the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon on Saturday.
It was a flawless performance in Heat 2 for Kipyegon, who is also the Olympic champion, who timed 4:04.53 ahead of Australian Jessica Hull (4:04.64) and Ethiopia's Freweyni Hailu (4:04.85). The top six athletes in each of the three heats qualified for the semi-finals set for Sunday.
African champion Winny Chebet also made the semi-finals after finishing second in Heat 3 behind Ethiopia's World Indoor champion Gudaf Tsegay.
Ethiopia's Hirut Meshesha (4:07.05) won Heat 1 ahead of Great Britain's Olympic silver medallist Laura Muir (4:07.53) while Judith Kiyeng was ninth in 4:09.30 to miss out on the semifinals.
Georgia Griffith of Australia (4:07.65) was third in Heat 1 also to make it to the semi-finals.
Edinah Jebitok, the other Kenyan entered in the 1500m contested, failed to make it out of Heat 3 after finishing a disappointing ninth place.
