Kenyan Athlete Golden Faith Kipyegon Achieves Double Victory in Budapest
Faith Kipyegon, the greatest middle-distance runner in the world, officially graduated to track distance running on Saturday in Budapest, Hungary, when she won the world 5,000-meter title.
Kipyegon, the two-time Olympic 1,500-meter champion, moved to the front before the starting gun and held off the pack to triumph in 14 minutes, 53.88 seconds, just days after completing a hat-trick by retaining her 1,500-meter title.
“This has been an amazing year for me,” said Kipyegon. This season, I had an ambition of making history and winning two gold medals at a championship. I have waited patiently to break world records and achieve double gold medals. But my goal has just come true, which is incredible.” “I have been pushing myself to my limits and will continue to do so in the future.” “I had faith in myself. I have been consistent, goal-oriented, and intent on making history.”
Sifan Hassan, who had won bronze in the 1,500-meter race, was forced to settle for silver in 14:54.11 after failing to dethrone the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games champion on the home stretch.
“The race was not easy,” Kipyegon remarked. “It was a tactical game, but I am mentally strong and pushed myself to the limit.” Hassan stated, “I have no idea how I was able to sprint at the end. “On the final lap, I felt incredible, and it wasn’t until the final 20 meters that I couldn’t hold on.”
“Today, faith was stronger than I. She has just shattered world records and is better than me this year, but I know where I stand.” Beatrice Chebet of Kenya, the 5,000m champion at the Commonwealth Games and silver medalist in Oregon last year, clocked 14:54.33 for bronze.
Kipyegon became the first woman in the history of the world championships to win both the 1,500-meter and 5,000-meter events. The victory by Kipyegon, the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games champion, brought Kenya’s medal total to six on the penultimate day of the Budapest championships; two gold, two silver, and two bronze.
Kipyegon now joins Vivian Cheruiyot (2009, 2011) and Hellen Obiri (2017, 2019) as world 5,000-meter champions from Kenya. Sixth in the medal standings was Kenya. The victory by Kipyegon followed Emmanuel Wanyonyi’s silver medal performance in the men’s 800 meters.
Wanyonyi squandered a 300-meter lead over Canadian Marco Arop to finish second in 1:44.53, while Arop, who won bronze in Oregon last year, triumphed in 1:24.24.
Daniel Simiu, the runner-up in the men’s 10,000-meter race at the Commonwealth Games, began Kenya’s medal tally on Sunday when he produced a late surge to settle for silver in 27 minutes, 52.60 seconds.
Simiu was defeated by Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei, who won his third consecutive race in 27:5142. Wednesday, Commonwealth Games champion Abraham Kibiwott finished third in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 8:11.98.
In a rematch of last year’s world championships in Oregon, United States of America, Moroccan Soufiane El Bakkali retained his world 3,000m steeplechase title with a time of 8:03.53, while world record holder Lemecha Girma of Ethiopia won silver in 8:05.44.
Kipyegon’s victory culminates one of the most prosperous years for the 29-year-old mother of one, who now holds two world titles and three world records, two of which were set in June.
Two of these marks, in the women’s 1,500-meter and 5,000-meter races, are now official records. The ratification of her women’s Mile record set in Monaco on July 21 is pending. The first of Kipyegon’s world records was established at the June 2 meeting of the Florence Diamond League.
On that occasion, the Olympic champion of 2016 and 2020 ran 3:49.11 to surpass the women’s world 1,500m record of 3:50.07 set in Monaco on July 17, 2015 by Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba.
Adding the world record to her collection, her performance in the Metric Mile race in Florence cemented her legacy as the Greatest of All Time in women’s middle-distance running.
The following week, she competed in the Paris Diamond League on June 9 and increased her distance to 5,000 meters. She later stated that her initial goal may not have been to break the world record of 14:06.62 set by Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey in Valencia on October 7, 2020, but she did so by running 14:05.20 in only her third race over the distance.
Kipyegon clocked 4:07.64 seconds to shatter the previous One Mile record of 4:12.33 set by Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands in 2019 at the same venue.
Her fairytale ascent to the top began in 2011 and 2012 when she won both the world under-18 and under-20 championships.
After finishing fifth in 4:05.08 at the 2013 International Athletics Championships in Moscow, Kipyegon won silver in 4:08.96 at the 2015 World Athletics Championships in Beijing to announce her arrival on the international stage.
She would become the first Kenyan to win Olympic gold since Jebet Lagat in 2008 Beijing, recording 4:08.92 for victory at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, shocking Dibaba, who had to settle for silver.
Kipyegon took a maternity leave to give birth to her lively daughter Alyen. She is married to Olympic bronze medalist in 800m at the 2012 London Games Timothy Kitum.
At the 2019 Doha World Championships, she returned to settle for silver in a National Record time of 3:54.22 despite ceding the world title to Hassan, who also set an Area Record and Championship Record of 3:51.95.
The Kenyan never took her foot off the gas accelerator to retain her Olympic title in 3:53.11 at Tokyo in 2021. Then, her performance at the world championships in Oregon would cement her position in the history of the 1,500-meter race for women.
Despite being regarded as one of the all-time greats in the women’s 1,500-meter race, Kipyegon was unsatisfied that the world record remained unattained.
Kenyan Athlete Golden Faith Kipyegon Achieves Double Victory in Budapest
