Faith Kipyegon

Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon (born 10 January 1994)[2] is a Kenyan middle-distance runner specializing in the 1500 metres. A 2016 Rio Olympic and 2020 Tokyo Olympic champion with the Games record at the latter, she is the second woman in history to claim back-to-back Olympic titles at the event. On the track Kipyegon has won or finished second in every major championships since 2015, and is regarded the greatest female 1500 metres runner in history.[3][4][5][6]

Faith Kipyegon
Kipyegon at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics in London
Personal information
Full nameFaith Chepngetich Kipyegon
Born (1994-01-10) 10 January 1994
Bomet, Kenya
Home townIten, Kenya
Height1.57 m (5 ft 2 in)
Weight42 kg (93 lb)[1]
Sport
CountryKenya
SportAthletics
Event(s)1500 metres
Coached byPatrick Sang
Achievements and titles
World finals
  • 1500 m
  • 2013, 5th
  • 2015,  Silver
  • 2017,  Gold
  • 2019,  Silver
  • 2022,  Gold
Olympic finals
  • 1500 m
  • 2012 London, h (16th)
  • 2016 Rio,  Gold
  • 2020 Tokyo,  Gold
Personal best(s)
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing Kenya Kenya
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place2016 Rio de Janeiro1500 m
Gold medal – first place2020 Tokyo1500 m
World Championships
Gold medal – first place2017 London1500 m
Gold medal – first place2022 Eugene1500 m
Silver medal – second place2015 Beijing1500 m
Silver medal – second place2019 Doha1500 m
World Relays
Gold medal – first place2014 Nassau4x1500 m
Diamond League
First place20171500 m
First place20211500 m
First place20221500 m
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place2014 Glasgow1500 m
World Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place2012 Barcelona1500 m
World Youth Championships
Gold medal – first place2011 Villeneuve-d'Ascq1500 m
World Cross Country Championships
Gold medal – first place2010 BydgoszczJunior team
Gold medal – first place2011 Punta UmbriaJunior race
Gold medal – first place2013 BydgoszczJunior race
Gold medal – first place2013 BydgoszczJunior team
Gold medal – first place2017 KampalaSenior team
Silver medal – second place2011 Punta UmbriaJunior team

She is a two-time world champion from 2017 and 2022 as well as two-time world silver medallist from 2015, when she lost only to the multiple world record-holder Genzebe Dibaba, and 2019, when she returned after giving birth in previous year. In August 2022, she achieved the second-fastest time in history, setting her consecutive Kenyan record.[7]

Kipyegon won her specialist event at the 2011 World Under-18 Championships, and 2012 World U20 Championships. At the age of 18, she did not reach semifinals of the 2012 London Olympics, but won the junior races at the 2011 and 2013 World Cross Country Championships, and finished fifth at the 2013 World Championships. She was 2014 Commonwealth Games champion, and a three-time Diamond League winner.

Kipyegon was cited as one of the Top 100 most influential Africans by New African magazine in 2017.[8]

Junior career
Faith Kipyegon at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Barcelona.

At age 16, Faith Kipyegon ran in the 2010 World Cross Country Championships women's junior race in Bydgoszcz, Poland. She came in fourth place individually and won the gold medal with her under-20 team.[9]

She participated in the 2011 World Cross Country Championships in Punta Umbria, Spain and took the gold medal in the junior race, adding silver with her team.[10] A few months later, she competed in the 1500 m at the World Youth Championships in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France, winning a gold medal ahead of two Ethiopian runners with a time of 4:09.48 and breaking the championship record in the process.[11]

At the 2012 World Junior Championships held in Barcelona, Kipyegon won the gold medal in her specialist event way ahead of the field with a time of 4:04.96; Serbian Amela Terzić and Ethiopian Senbere Teferi took second and third place respectively. That time she also set a championship record.[12] The then 18-year-old qualified for the London Olympics, but at the event failed to advance to the semi-finals clocking 4:08.78.[13]

At the beginning of the 2013 season, she took a gold in the junior race both with her team at the World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz (PL).[14] On 10 May at the Diamond League meeting in Doha, Qatar, she recorded her first sub-four-minute performance in the 1500 m, clocking an African Under-20 and Kenyan senior record of 3:56.98. Kipyegon finished second behind Swedish runner Abeba Aregawi but beat Ethiopia's Genzebe Dibaba in third.[15][16] In August, at the Moscow World Championships, the 19-year-old came fifth in the final in a time of 4:05.08.[17]

Senior career

2014: Commonwealth champion

In May, she was a part of the team which won the gold medal in the 4×1500 m relay at the first IAAF World Relays in Nassau, Bahamas, along with Mercy Cherono, Irene Jelagat and Hellen Obiri. The Kenyan team, ahead of the United States and Australia, set a new world record of 16:33.58.[18] The same year in July, she became Commonwealth Games 1500 m champion in Glasgow, Scotland in a time of 4:08.94.[19]

2015: World championship silver medallist
Kipyegon (L) collecting her silver medal for the 1500 m at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing.

On 25 August, Kipyegon won a silver in the 1500 m event at the World Championships held in Beijing. After a tactical race she finished second in a time of 4:08.96 behind only world record holder Genzebe Dibaba who clocked 4:08.09. Siffan Hassan representing the Netherlands was third in 4:09.34.[20]

On 11 September, at the Diamond League meeting in Brussels, she won the one mile with an African and a meet record of 4:16.71, beating Hassan who ran 4:18.20 in the final stretch.[21]

2016: First Olympic title in Rio

On 14 May, Kipyegon improved her own 2013 1500 m Kenyan record by running 3:56.82 when winning Diamond League Shanghai Golden Grand Prix meeting. Two weeks later, she bested her record with a 3:56.41 performance to place first at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon. She also won the mile event during Oslo Bislett Games meet in June.[2]

Kipyegon celebrates her first Olympic 1500 m victory in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.

The then 22-year-old became 2016 Olympic Games 1500 m gold medallist in Rio de Janeiro reversing the order from the previous year's World Championships. She outsprinted Dibaba in the final 200 m in what was initially a slow tactical race, with a third lap in 56.80 and last 800 m in a fast 800m races pace of 1:57.2.[22] Kipyegon clocked 4:08.92, Dibaba 4:10.27, and Jenny Simpson was third in 4:10.53.[23][24]

2017: First senior world title

She earned her first Diamond League 1500 m title, winning three races in Shanghai, Eugene, and Brussels.[2]

Her best success of that year was the first place at the London World Championships, becoming only the third woman in history to win both the Olympic and World Championships 1500 m race. She ran 4:02.59 while three next women also recorded times below 4:03, with Jenny Simpson in second and Caster Semenya third .[25]

2018–2020: Motherhood and comeback, world championship silver medallist

Kipyegon gave birth to her first child in 2018, returning 12 months later, in June 2019, to win her signature event in 3:59:04 at the Prefontaine Classic in Palo Alto.[4]

In the 1500 m final at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Faith (L in red) lost only to Sifan Hassan, returning after giving birth in previous year.

She went on to take the silver medal at the World Championships in Doha, where she set her new Kenyan record of 3:54.22. Sifan Hassan came first in 3:51.95 while third-placed Gudaf Tsegay set a best of 3:54.38.[26]

In 2020, she competed at the Diamond League and Continental Tour meetings staying unbeaten in all her six races. In August, she ran the second-fastest time ever, an African and Diamond League record in the 1000 metres at the Herculis meet in Monaco, with her result of 2:29.15 just 0.17 s short of the world record set back in 1996 by Svetlana Masterkova.[2][27][28]

2021: Second back-to-back Olympic title in Tokyo

In 2021, she improved her Kenyan national record twice at the Diamond League meetings. On 10 June, she ran 3:53.91 at the Rome Golden Gala, staged exceptionally in Florence, to finish second just behind Sifan Hassan who timed 3:53.63. On 9 July at the Monaco Herculis, Kipyegon stopped the clock at a world-leading 3:51.07 – the fourth-fastest time in history and just one second off Genzebe Dibaba's world record – outsprinting Hassan in the home straight by about 2.5 s.[29]

At the women's 1500 m final of the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics in August, Kipyegon overtook Hassan in the last 200 m to secure her second consecutive Olympic gold medal in the event in a time of 3:53.11, breaking an Olympic record which had stood for 33 years. She became the second woman in history to win back-to-back Olympic 1500 m titles. While Hassan faded in the home stretch (3:55.86) Laura Muir set a British record of 3:54.50 to clinch the silver medal.[30][31][32]

In September, she beat Hassan again at the Zürich Weltklasse Diamond League final to take her second 1500 m Diamond Trophy. Kipyegon won nine out of her ten races of the season.[2][5]

2022: Second senior world title
Kipyegon with her fourth global gold at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene.

At the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon in July, Kipyegon won decisively the 1500 m gold medal with a time of 3:52.96, which made her the first female athlete to win four global titles over the distance. Gudaf Tsegay placed second in 3:54.52 while Laura Muir earned bronze (3:55.28).[33]

In August at the Diamond League's Monaco meet, Kipyegon set a new national record of 3:50.37, the second-fastest performance of all time and just 0.3 s off the Dibaba's world record which was set also in Monaco in 2015. She split 60.5 / 62.1 / 62.1 / 45.67 (last 400 m in 61.3) and as of August 2022 held six of the thirteen fastest women's 1500 m performances in history.[34][35] She ended her yet another successful season with a clear victory in Zürich circuit's final the following month, this time closing strongly after a tactical race (last lap in 57.75 and last 200 m in 27.8) to earn her third Diamond League 1500 m title.[6] Kipyegon won all her six 1500 m races of the season.[2]

In November interview with Athletics Weekly, she said that in the future she would like to run marathons.[36]

2023–present

Kipyegon got her 2023 campaign off to strong start on 4 February with a dominant victory at the Sirikwa Cross Country Classic (10 km) on home soil in Eldoret.[37]

Personal life

Kipyegon is married to middle-distance runner Timothy Kitum, the 2012 Olympic 800 m bronze medallist. They have a daughter, Alyn, born in June 2018. She returned to training in January 2019 after almost 18-month break. Six months later, Kipyegon competed in her first race since giving birth, winning her specialty at the Diamond League's Prefontaine Classic in Palo Alto.[38]

She trains in Kaptagat coached by Patrick Sang (who is also coaching marathon world record-holder Eliud Kipchoge).[36]

Achievements
At the 2017 World Championships in London, Kipyegon (L in red) won her first senior world title, beating Jenny Simpson, DSD athlete Caster Semenya, Laura Muir and Sifan Hassan.

All information taken from World Athletics profile.

Personal bests
EventTime (m:s)VenueDateNotes
800 metres 1:57.68 Doha, Qatar 25 September 2020
1000 metres 2:29.15 Monaco, Monaco 14 August 2020 African record, 2nd all time
1500 metres 3:50.37 Monaco, Monaco 10 August 2022 NR, 2nd all time[39]
One mile 4:16.71 Brussels, Belgium 11 September 2015 =8th all time
3000 metres 8:23.55 Doha, Qatar 9 May 2014
5000 metres 14:31.95 Eugene, OR, United States 30 May 2015
4×1500 m relay 16:33.58 Nassau, Bahamas 24 May 2014 African record

International competitions
Representing  Kenya
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventResultNotes
2010 World Cross Country Championships Bydgoszcz, Poland 4th Junior race 19:02
1st Junior team 10 pts
2011 World Cross Country Championships Punta Umbria, Spain 1st Junior race 18:53
2nd Junior team 19 pts
World Youth Championships Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France 1st 1500 m 4:09.48 CR
2012 World Junior Championships Barcelona, Spain 1st 1500 m 4:04.96 CR
Olympic Games London, United Kingdom h (16th) 1500 m 4:08.78
2013 World Cross Country Championships Bydgoszcz, Poland 1st Junior race 17:51
1st Junior team 14 pts
World Championships Moscow, Russia 5th 1500 m 4:05.08
2014 World Relays Nassau, Bahamas 1st 4 × 1500 m relay 16:33.58 WR
Commonwealth Games Glasgow, United Kingdom 1st 1500 m 4:08.94
African Championships Marrakesh, Morocco 5th 1500 m 4:13.46
2015 World Championships Beijing, China 2nd 1500 m 4:08.96
2016 Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1st 1500 m 4:08.92
2017 World Cross Country Championships Kampala, Uganda 6th Senior race 32:49
1st Senior team 10 pts
World Championships London, United Kingdom 1st 1500 m 4:02.59
2019 World Championships Doha, Qatar 2nd 1500 m 3:54.22 NR
2021 Olympic Games Tokyo, Japan 1st 1500 m 3:53.11 OR
2022 World Championships Eugene, OR, United States 1st 1500 m 3:52.96

Circuit wins and titles
1500 metres wins, other events specified in parenthesis

National titles

Awards and honours

See also

References
  1. "Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon". London 2012. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Limited. Archived from the original on 30 July 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  2. "Faith KIPYEGON – Athlete profile". World Athletics. Retrieved 1 January 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. Smythe, Steve (21 August 2021). "Olympics middle-distance review - Kenya and Britain lead the world". Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  4. Dennehy, Cathal (21 December 2021). "Faith Kipyegon Returned From Pregnancy Running Faster Than Ever Before". Runner's World. Retrieved 21 December 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. Katami, Michelle (18 December 2021). "Faith Kipyegon: How Kenyan achieved the mother of all feats in Tokyo". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  6. "World Leaders by Ingebrigtsen & Korir Highlight 2022 Diamond League Final". LetsRun.com. 8 September 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  7. Dickinson, Marley (10 August 2022). "Faith Kipyegon narrowly misses women's 1,500m world record". Canadian Running Magazine. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  8. "100 Most Influential Africans: Ten Kenyans Including CJ David Maraga Listed". Answers Africa. 7 December 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  9. "38th IAAF World Cross Country Championships 2010 – U20 Results". World Athletics. Retrieved 1 January 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. "39th IAAF World Cross Country Championships 2011 – U20 Results". World Athletics. Retrieved 1 January 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. "IAAF World Youth Championships Lille 2011 – 1500 Metres Girls - Final" (PDF). World Athletics. 9 July 2011. p. 1. Retrieved 1 January 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. "IAAF World Junior Championships Barcelona 2012 – 1500 Metres Women - Final" (PDF). World Athletics. 15 July 2012. p. 1. Retrieved 1 January 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. "The XXX Olympic Games London 2012 – 1500m women - Heats summary". World Athletics. Retrieved 1 January 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. "40th IAAF World Cross Country Championships 2013 – U20 Results". World Athletics. Retrieved 1 January 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. Mulkeen, Jon (4 May 2023). "Stars ready to shine in Doha as 2023 Wanda Diamond League gets under way". World Athletics. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  16. "IAAF Diamond League 2013 Doha (QAT) – 1500m Women - Results" (PDF). static.sportresult.com. Diamond League. 10 May 2013. p. 1. Retrieved 1 January 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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  37. Lagat, Justin (4 February 2023). "Kipyegon and Lokir secure success at Sirikwa Cross Country Classic". World Athletics. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
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