Three world records fall at Paris Diamond League

It was an extraordinary evening in Paris on Friday, with no fewer than three world records demolished. First came Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s world best in the rarely-run two-mile distance, taking down a record that had stood for 26 years. Then, in the women’s 5,000m, Faith Kipyegon surged past the world record holder herself, Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia, to blast out her second world record in exactly a week. But the excitement didn’t stop, as Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma hung on for the third world record of the evening, in the 3,000m steeplechase, the rest of the field far behind him.

🚨 Mais comment faire pour l’arrêter ? 😱

🇳🇴 Jakob Ingebrigtsen pulvérise la meilleure performance mondiale de tous les temps sur le 2 Miles (3218 m) en 7’54”10 🔥

📺 Le #MeetingParis est à suivre en 𝗗𝗜𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗧 dès maintenant sur @lachainelequipe pic.twitter.com/6EwunQeBcc

— MEETING DE PARIS (@MEETINGPARIS) June 9, 2023

Ingebrigtsen’s first outdoor world record

This was the first outdoor world record for the young Norwegian, who is only 22 and the reigning Olympic champion and Olympic record holder in the 1,500m. His 7:54.10 takes down Daniel Komen’s long-standing world record of 7:58.61 by nearly four seconds. (Ingebrigtsen also has many European and national distance records, as well as the 1,500m indoor world record, which he set in 2022.)

Heading into the race, it was clear that Ingebrigtsen was in shape and ready to give the record a shot. His pace was relentless from the start, and he hit the one-mile mark in around 3:57; when the pacer dropped off at 2,000m, the 22-year-old took over, chipping away at each lap and inching closer to history. The crowd erupted as Ingebrigtsen approached his final lap on record pace, sprinting down the final straight and reaching the line four seconds clear of Komen’s record.

Kipyegon nails her second WR in a week

Kipyegon’s record might have been the evening’s most extraordinary, considering she was only a week out from her 1,500m world record in Florence last week, and that she had not even raced the 5,000m distance since 2015. The 29-year-old mother and athlete surpassed the previous 5,000m world record of 14:06.62, held by Gidey, who finished second to Kipyegon in 14:07.94 (her second-fastest result).

Faith Kipyegon sets another World Record win the Women's 5000m race in Paris nenyon serikalit pic.twitter.com/tuUGxIPMt7

— Madoka Kibet, HSC (@MKMadoka_) June 9, 2023

The Kenyan settled in behind Gidey for the first half of the race, only pushing the pace in the final five laps. When she first took the lead, it wasn’t clear if she’d be able to maintain it, and only in the final lap (which she ran in under 60 seconds) was it clear that she would wrest the world record from her rival. The two women embraced warmly after crossing the line just over a second apart. Kipyegon’s result was an amazing 26-second personal best.

Girma’s lonely (but successful) quest

Girma needed a flawless race to secure the world record, which seemed somewhat beyond his previous PB of 7:58.68–and the Ethiopian delivered, sailing over the barriers and barely wetting his feet in the water jumps. Girma crossed the line in 7:52.12–more than a second off the previous record held by Saif Saaeed Shaheen.