The two-time Olympic and world 1,500m champion Faith Kipyegon broke the 5,000m world record just over a week after her 1,500m world record. However, she said this Paris Diamond League achievement was not in her plans.
“I didn’t think about the world record, I don’t know how I achieved it. I just focused on the green light and tried to stay calm and enjoy the race. When I saw it was a world record I was so surprised – I just wanted to improve my personal record, the world record was not my plan”, said Faith Kipyegon. “I don’t know what will be next – I will have to discuss it with my coach. If my body is healthy, anything is possible”, added the Kenyan athlete.
Faith Kipyegon is a Kenyan middle-distance runner specializing in the 1,500m. A two-time back-to-back Olympic champion with the Games record and a two-time world champion, she is the only woman to win four global 1,500m titles and only the second woman to claim consecutive Olympic titles in the event. Faith Kipyegon also has two world silver medals and is the world record holder for the distance with a time of 3:49.11 min, set on June 2, 2023 in Florence, becoming the first woman in history to break the 3:50-barrier in the discipline. Just one week later, she set the world record in the 5,000m at Paris Diamond League in 14:05.20 min. On the track she has won or finished second in every major championships since 2015, and is regarded as the greatest female 1,500m runner in history.
Faith Kipyegon won Olympic titles at the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Games, and world titles at the 2017 and 2022 World Athletics Championships. She earned world silver medals in 2015, when she finished behind the multiple world record-holder Genzebe Dibaba, and in 2019, when she returned after giving birth in the previous year. She holds two of the three fastest female 1500 m marks in history and is one of only five athletes who dominated at every world age-group level in their track and field specialty (under-18, U20 and senior level) and set a senior world record.
