Faith Kipyegon taps into the Kipchoge method, targets third world mark

Kenyan women’s distance running star Faith Kipyegon is long used to extraordinary deeds on the track. Two Olympic golds and world titles each testify to that. Still, it was some hot streak in this buzzing Diamond League season as she took down two world records a week apart.

PREMIUM

The 29-year-old, in sensational form this season, will be gunning for a third world mark when she lines up for the rarely run mile race at the Monaco Diamond League on July 21.

Kipyegon, the reigning Olympic and world 1,500m champion – she also won the 2016 Olympic and 2017 world titles in the event – put on some show on successive Fridays. She first bettered the seven-year-old 1,500m world mark, and the 5000m record fell the next week.

At the Florence Diamond League on June 2, she powered through to win the 1,500m in 3:49.11 secs, bettering the 3:50.07 set by Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba in 2015. Last year, she had agonisingly missed it by 0.3 seconds in Monaco.

This year, there was more power and speed in her legs, making it look ridiculously easy. She ran the last 400m in 58.81secs, the final 200m in 29.2 secs. Britain’s Laura Muir (3:57.09), Olympic silver-medallist behind her, was almost eight seconds adrift at second. The way her fellow runners mobbed her in celebration and then gathered for a group photograph underlined how popular her achievement was.

But few saw the next one coming in Paris on June 9. Running her first 5000m in eight years, she clocked 14:05.20 for the record, leaving world record holder Letesenbet Gidey in her wake. It was again the finishing kick – she ran the final 400m in 61.1 secs – that helped erase the old mark of 14:06.62.

“I just wanted to improve on my personal best. The world record was not my plan. I just ran after Gidey,” said Kipyegon, widely regarded as the greatest female 1,500m runner.

She is now in a club of only five world champions across age groups – U-18, U-20 -- and seniors to also smash a world record. The others in the list are Usain Bolt, Mondo Duplantis, Yelena Isinbaeva (both pole-vault) and Kevin Mayer (decathlon).

In Monaco, Kipyegon will be chasing Sifan Hassan’s record. The Monaco track is regarded as the fastest in the Diamond League circuit, which should further boost her. Hassan set her current mark (4:12.33) in 2019. Kipyegon hasn’t run the mile since 2016, but few would bet against a third world record.

The distance star has searched for extra zip in her running, and she didn’t have to look beyond Kenyan marathon legend Eliud Kipchoge’s training camp.

Last year, she spoke at Monaco of badly she wants to break world records and set herself on the path of double Olympic champion Kipchoge. Having made a comeback in 2019 after a year, following the birth of daughter Alyn, she wanted to touch new heights. At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, she broke the the 33-year-old Olympic 1,500m mark of Romanian Paula Ivan, clocking 3min 53.11 secs.

Since 2019 she has trained under Patrick Sang, and with Kipchoge and his fellow marathoners. “Since I joined Patrick and Kipchoge, I have done really, really different training. With the marathoners, we come along and train and enjoy sports together. They are doing long runs, fartlek and track sessions,” she told World Athletics.

“I wanted to go gradually, slowly, to see what was possible this year, and the world record just came as a surprise,” she said.

At the Budapest World Championships in August, Kipyegon will eye a third world 1,500m title. And come next year, she will be favourite for a third Olympic gold in Paris.

Enjoy unlimited digital access with HT Premium

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.