Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon set a new women’s 1,500 meters world record

Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon set a women’s 1,500 meters world record on Friday by  stopping the clock at 3:49.11.

Kipyegon got almost an entire second off the previous mark of 3:50.07 set by Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba in 2015.

WORLD RECORD – 3:49.11 💗🥹💗
I am really thankful, today was a wonderful day in which everything came together. The world record was in my mind since last year, but I wanted to approach it slowly by slowly to see what was possible this year. I cant believe it! Now I have… pic.twitter.com/e9xRXIteUq

— Faith Kipyegon (@Kipyegon_Faith) June 2, 2023

The 29-year-old’s has two Olympic 1,500m golds and the 2017 and 2022 world titles, Commonwealth Games gold medal from 2014 and three Diamond League titles.

The Kenyan remained behind the pacemakers for the first half of the race before racing clear in the final 300m to finish well ahead of Britain’s Laura Muir and Australian Jessica Hull, with her rivals crowding around to congratulate her after the race.

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This was the reaction when Faith Kipyegon broke the world 1500m record.

Her competitors all went and hugged the double Olympic and world champion.

No surprise as Kipyegon is one of the most popular athletes on the circuit. pic.twitter.com/cGJ91II7VE

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) June 2, 2023

“I’m so happy for Faith,” Muir said. “I would have loved to be closer to her. But for the first race of the season this is really decent. I have never gone through the first 800m as fast as today.”