There is no athlete in the world in the kind of form Faith Kipyegon is in right now.
The Kenyan star was already in sharp shape last season, as she cruised to the world and Wanda Diamond League titles in the 1500m to reassert herself as the finest middle distance runner in the world. But few could have predicted what an explosive run of performances lay ahead when she began her title defence earlier this summer.
First, Kipyegon wrote herself into the history books by breaking the 1500m world record in Florence, joining an elite group of athletes to have become the fastest ever in their discipline on the Diamond League circuit. A week later in Paris, she did it again in the 5000m, becoming the first ever athlete to break two world records in one Diamond League season.
The crowning glory came last weekend at Herculis EBS Monaco, where Kipyegon delivered a third world record in as many Diamond League performances to complete a historic hat-trick and deliver the OMEGA Moment of the Meeting once again.
As the Kenyan crossed the line victorious in the women's mile, official timekeeper OMEGA clocked her at 4:07.64, almost a full five seconds faster than the previous world record which Sifan Hassan had set in the same stadium at the Monaco Diamond League four years earlier.
"When I started this season, my goal was to just break the 1500m world record," said Kipyegon post-race, scarcely able to process what she had just achieved. "I do not know how I am doing this because it just keeps going really in a good way."
The Kenyan now has her sights set on gold in the 1500m and the 5000m at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest next month before she heads to Eugene to defend her Diamond League title in September.
Whatever titles she picks up in the rest of the season, though, her extraordinary achievements in this Diamond League season will forever be etched into the history of the series and the sport. It may be a long time yet before we see an athlete break three separate world records in one season.
