This is a new record. Kenyan Faith Kipyegon, two-time Olympic champion and two-time world champion in the distance, broke the world record for the 1,500 meters running in 3 min 49 sec 11 Friday at the Diamond League meeting in Florence, Italy. The previous record, of the Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba (3:50.07), dates from July 2015.
In August 2022, in Monaco, the 29-year-old Kenyan half-founder had already come close to the feat by missing the record by only thirty hundredths (3 min 50 sec 37/100), saying she was “disappointed to have let it slip away in the last meters” despite setting the second fastest time in history at the time.
This time in Florence, although the season was just beginning, she did not miss the target, led by two American pacemakers, and assisted by the “wavelight”, luminous technology which indicated the rhythm of the record along of the track.
Big favorite of the Budapest World Championships
Training partner of marathon king Eliud Kipchoge, Kipyegon completes his incredible track record.
Since 2014, she has won a medal at all editions of the Olympic Games and World Athletics Games, including 2019 in Doha, where she won silver sixteen months after the birth of her daughter and a year 2018 without coaching. She will be the big favorite for the World Championships in Budapest (August 19-27).
In Florence, Britain’s Laura Muir, a time on the heels of the Kenyan, finished second almost eight seconds behind the winner (3:57.09).