04 June, 2023

Kipyegon's road to the world record

Photo: Matthew Quine

From a narrow defeat in Florence to several major titles, we take a look back at Kenyan star Faith Kipyegon's road to the 1500m world record.

Faith Kipyegon made history on Friday, becoming the ninth athlete ever to break a world record at a Wanda Diamond League meeting with a staggering 3:49.11 in the women's 1500m in Florence.

The Kenyan star had said before the meeting that anything was possible and clearly felt it was only a matter of time before she broke Genzebe Dibaba's previous world record, set at the Monaco Diamond League in 2015.

Kipyegon has gone from strength to strength since she returned to action after the birth of her daughter in 2019, slowly but surely establishing herself as the greatest 1500m runner of all time.

Though she has also picked up several global championship titles in that time, many of the milestones on her road to the world record came - where else? - on the Diamond League circuit. So as Kipyegon basks in the glory of a magical night in Florence, here's a look back at her road to 3:49.11.

Return to action

Kipyegon marked her return to action in style with victory in the 1500m at the Prefontaine Classic in Stanford in mid-season, her first Diamond League win in two yeas. She later claimed silver at the World Athletics Championships in Doha in 2019 with what was then a Kenyan record of 3:54.22. More success was to come in the Qatari capital a year later, when she clocked a new 800m personal best of 1:57.68 to claim her fifth Diamond League win in two years. Kipyegon was back, and she meant business.

Regaining the Diamond Trophy

Having won her first Diamond League title shortly before her break in 2017, Kipyegon was on a mission to regain the Diamond Trophy as she began to hit her best form once again a few years later. The 2021 season began with high drama for the Kenyan, who followed an 800m victory in Doha with a 1500m battle for the ages against Dutch rival Sifan Hassan in Florence. Hassan may have come out on top on that night, but Kipyegon still walked away with a new Kenyan record and it was she who would go on to dominate the rest of the Diamond League season. After another national record in Monaco, she set a new meeting record in Eugene and then swept to victory in Zurich to claim the second Diamond League title of her career.

Near miss in Monaco

2021 also saw Kipyegon defend her Olympic title in Tokyo and she continued to rack up the titles in 2022, defending her Diamond League crown in Zurich and taking world championship gold for the second time in her career in Eugene. Yet for all her titles, the world record continued to elude Kipyegon, with Dibaba's 3:50.07 always just slightly out of reach. She came agonisingly close at the Monaco Diamond League in August 2022, falling just 0.3 seconds short of Dibaba's time with a performance which saw her break the Kenyan record once again and secure qualification to the Wanda Diamond League Final.

Florence fireworks

Having won the Diamond League title for two years in a row, Kipyegon came into the 2023 season as clear favourite to win the Diamond Trophy once again, and she confirmed her brilliant form with a world lead at the season opener in Doha last month. Yet it would be Florence - where she had suffered a bittersweet, record-breaking defeat two years earlier - where the Kenyan really pulled out all the stops. "I didn't expect to break the world record so early in the season, it came as a surprise. But I knew everything was possible," she beamed after finally breaking Dibaba's record. Now the reigning world, Olympic and Diamond League champion and the world record holder, it is safe to say that Kipyegon has cemented her status as the greatest of all time.