The name Faith Kipyegon will forever remain etched in the books of athletics history. The Stargirl capped her already amazing year with two gold medals in the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
After claiming a third world 1500m title on Tuesday, Kipyegon delivered another masterclass, this time in the 5,000m, to win her second gold in the Hungarian capital.
The 29-year-old completed the race in 14:53.88, proving her dominance this season, especially considering that the competition included six of the ten fastest female athletes in history.
Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands won the silver medal in 14:54.11, while Beatrice Chebet of Kenya won the bronze medal in 14:54.33.
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Speaking after the race, the unbeatable Kipyegon expressed pleasure, noting that she was just ‘introducing her legs’ to the 5000m race.
“This is my fifth 5000m race in this championship. I thought I was introducing my legs towards the future in the 5,000m. I did not think I would win the gold, so I am so happy. I thank the ladies, my teammates Beatrice and Lilian. We helped each other because Ethiopians were all over the race. They were sprinting, slowing, but we tried to control the race and help each other,” she offered.
Prior to the 5000m gold medal, Kipyegon with her traditional strong front-running style has outclassed a strong contingent to retain the world 1,500m title on Tuesday.
The achievements saw the Olympic 1500m gold medallist from the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Summer Games became the first woman to complete a hat-trick of world 1500m titles, and the first woman to accomplish the 1500m-5000m double. No world record book has been in match for the 29-year-old.
Two of those marks, in the women’s 1,500m and 5,000m, are now officially in the record books. Her women’s One Mile record set in Monaco on July 21, is pending ratification.
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Kipyegon set the first of his world records on June 2 at the Florence Diamond League meeting where she raced 3:49.11 to shatter Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia’s 3:50.07 world record for the women’s 1,500-metre race set in Monaco on July 17, 2015.
She went on to cemented her legacy as the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) in women’s middle-distance running after adding the world record in the Metric Mile race in Florence. Kipyegon clocked 4:07.64 seconds to obliterate the previous One Mile record of 4:12.33 set by Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan at the same venue in 2019.
Officially Just one week later, she raced at the Paris Diamond League, on June 9 and stepped up to the 5, 000m.
