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Faith Kipyegon seizes 1,500m world record at Florence Diamond League

Kipyegon sprints to a 3:49.11, becoming the first woman in history to break the three minute and 50-second barrier for 1,500m

Faith Kipyegon Photo by: Kevin Morris

The reigning Olympic and world champion, Faith Kipyegon, made history on Friday at the Florence Diamond League, smashing the women’s 1,500m world record in 3:49.11. She is the first woman ever to run under the three-minute and 50-second mark for the metric mile.

Kipyegon took off from the gun, and the race was perfectly paced by U.S. miler Sage Hurta-Klecker, who took the field through 800m in two minutes and four seconds. Olympic silver medallist Laura Muir and Australia’s Jessica Hull latched onto the back of Kipyegon, but began to drop off after 1,000m. Kipyegon hit the bell in two minutes and 50 seconds, needing a final 400m in under 60 seconds to break the world record. She closed her last lap in 59 seconds to break Genzebe Dibaba’s world record of 3:50.07 by nearly a full second.

Dibaba had held the world record for almost eight years, setting the mark at the 2015 Monaco Diamond League.

Kipyegon wasn’t the only athlete who set a record in the race. Hull, who finished third behind Muir in 3:57:29, set a new personal best and lowered her Oceanic area record by one and a half seconds. Canada’s Gabriela DeBues-Stafford also made her awaited return to the Diamond League circuit after missing most of the 2022 season due to injury. DeBues-Stafford was 12th, in a season’s best time of 4:03.64. 

Kipyegon, the 29-year-old middle-distance runner from Iten, Kenya, has accomplished almost everything in her career, from world and Olympic gold to cross-country and Diamond League titles. The 1,500m world record was one thing she was missing. Now, Kipyegon has solidified herself as the greatest female 1,500m runner in history.

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