Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon (born 10 January 1994)[2] is a Kenyan middle-distance runner specializing in the 1500 metres. A 2016 Rio Olympic and 2020 Tokyo Olympic champion with the Games record at the latter, she is the second woman in history to claim back-to-back Olympic titles at the event. Kipyegon has won or finished second in every major championships since age 20 in 2014, and is regarded as the greatest female 1500 metres runner in history.[3][4][5][6]
![]() Kipyegon at the 2017 World Championships | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | (1994-01-10) 10 January 1994 (age 28) Bomet, Kenya | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Home town | Iten, Kenya | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.57 m (5 ft 2 in)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 42 kg (93 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country | Kenya | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Athletics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event(s) | 1500 metres | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
World finals |
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Olympic finals |
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Personal best(s) |
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Medal record
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She is a two-time world champion from 2017 and 2022 as well as two-time world silver medallist from 2015, when she lost only to the multiple world record-holder Genzebe Dibaba, and 2019, when she returned after giving birth in previous year. In August 2022, she achieved the second-fastest time in history, setting her consecutive Kenyan record.[7]
Kipyegon won her specialist event at the 2011 World Under-18 Championships, and 2012 World U20 Championships. At the age of 18, she did not reach semifinals of the 2012 London Olympics, but won the junior races at the 2011 and 2013 World Cross Country Championships, and finished fifth at the 2013 World Championships. She was 2014 Commonwealth Games champion, and a three-time Diamond League winner.
Kipyegon was cited as one of the Top 100 most influential Africans by New African magazine in 2017.[8]
At age 16, Faith Kipyegon ran in the 2010 World Cross Country Championships women's junior race in Bydgoszcz, Poland. She came in fourth place individually and won the gold medal with her under-20 team.[9]
She participated in the 2011 World Cross Country Championships in Punta Umbria, Spain and won the gold medal in the junior race, adding silver with her team.[10] A few months afterward, she competed in the 1500 m at the World Youth Championships in Lille, France winning a gold medal ahead of two Ethiopian runners with a time of 4m 9.48s and breaking a championship record in the process.[11]
At the 2012 World Junior Championships in Barcelona, Kipyegon won a gold medal in her specialist event way ahead of the field with a time of 4:04.96; the Serbian Amela Terzić and Ethiopian Senbere Teferi took second and third place respectively. That time she also set a championship record.[12] The then 18-year-old qualified for the London Olympics, but at the event failed to advance to the semi-finals clocking 4:08.78.[13]
At the beginning of the 2013 season, she won a gold medal in the junior race both with her team at the World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.[14] On 10 May, at the Diamond League meeting in Doha, Qatar, she established in the 1500 m a Kenyan record with a time of 3:56.98, facing the Swedish runner Abeba Aregawi.[15] In August, at the World Championships in Moscow, the 19-year-old came fifth in the final in a time of 4:05.08.[16]
In May, she was a part of the team which won a gold medal in the 4×1500 m relay at the first IAAF World Relays in Nassau, Bahamas, along with Mercy Cherono, Irene Jelagat and Hellen Obiri. The Kenyan team, ahead of the United States and Australia, set a new world record time in a time of 16:33.58.[17] The same year in July, she became Commonwealth Games 1500 m champion in Glasgow, Scotland in a time of 4:08.94.[18]
On 25 August, Kipyegon won a silver in the 1500 m event at the World Championships in Beijing. After a tactical race she finished in a time of 4:08.96 second to Ethiopia's world record holder Genzebe Dibaba who clocked 4:08.09. Siffan Hassan representing the Netherlands was third in 4:09.34.[19]
On 11 September, at the Diamond League meeting in Brussels, she won one mile with an African and a meet record of 4:16.71, beating Hassan who ran 4:18.20 in the final stretch.[20]
On 14 May, Kipyegon improved her own 2013 1500 m Kenyan record by running 3:56.82 when winning Diamond League Shanghai Golden Grand Prix meeting. Two weeks later, she bested her record with a 3:56.41 performance to place first at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon. She also won the mile event during Oslo Bislett Games meet in June.[2]
The then 22-year-old became 2016 Olympics Games 1500 m gold medallist in Rio de Janeiro reversing the order from the previous year's World Championships. She outsprinted Dibaba in the final 200 m in what was initially a slow tactical race, with a third lap in 56.80 and last 800 m in a fast 800m races pace of 1:57.2.[21] Kipyegon clocked 4:08.92, Dibaba 4:10.27, and Jennifer Simpson was third in 4:10.53.[22][23]
She earned her first Diamond League 1500 m title, winning three races in Shanghai, Eugene, and Brussels.[2]
Her best success of that year was the first place at the London World Championships, becoming only the third woman in history to win both the Olympic and World Championships 1500 m race. She timed 4:02.59 while three next women also recorded times below 4m 3s, with Jenny Simpson in second and Caster Semenya third .[24]
Kipyegon gave birth to her first child in 2018, returning 12 months later, in June 2019, to win her signature event in 3:59:04 at the Prefontaine Classic in Palo Alto.[4] She went on to win the silver medal at the World Championships in Doha, where she set her new Kenyan record of 3:54.22. Sifan Hassan came first in 3:51.95 while the third-placed Gudaf Tsegay set a best of 3:54.38.[25]
In 2020, she competed at the Diamond League and Continental Tour meetings staying unbeaten in all her six races. In August, she ran the second-fastest time ever, an African record and a Diamond League record in the 1000 metres at the Herculis meet in Monaco, with her result of 2m 29.15s just 0.17 s short of the world record.[2][26][27]
In 2021, she improved her national record twice at the Diamond League meetings. On 10 June, she ran 3:53.91 at the Rome Golden Gala meet, staged exceptionally in Florence, to finish second just behind Sifan Hassan who timed 3:53.63. On 9 July at the Monaco Herculis, Kipyegon stopped the clock at a world-leading 3m 51.07s – the fourth-fastest time in history and just one second off Genzebe Dibaba's world record – outsprinting Hassan in the home straight by about 2.5 s.[28]
At the women's 1500 m final of the delayed 2020 Tokyo Games in August, Kipyegon overtook Hassan in the last 200 m to win her second consecutive Olympic gold medal in the event in a time of 3m 53.11s, breaking an Olympic record which had stood for 33 years. She became the second woman in history to win back-to-back Olympic 1500m titles. While Hassan faded in the home stretch (3:55.86) Laura Muir set a British record of 3:54.50 to clinch the silver medal.[29][30][31]
In September, she beat Hassan again at the Zürich Weltklasse Diamond League final to take her second 1500 m Diamond Trophy. Kipyegon won nine out of her ten races of the season.[2][5]
At the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon in July, Kipyegon won the 1500 m gold medal with a time of 3:52.96, which made her the first female athlete to win four global 1500 m titles. Gudaf Tsegay placed second in 3:54.52 while Laura Muir earned bronze (3:55.28).[32]
In August at the Diamond League's Monaco meet, Kipyegon set a new national record of 3m 50.37s, the second-fastest performance of all time and just 0.3 s off the Dibaba's world record. She split 60.5 / 62.1 / 62.1 / 45.67 (last 400m in 61.3) and as of August 2022 held six of the thirteen fastest women's 1500 m performances ever.[33][34] She ended her yet another successful season with a clear win in Zürich circuit's final the next month, this time closing strongly after a tactical race (last lap in 57.75 and last 200 m in 27.8) to earn her third 1500 m Diamond League title.[6] Kipyegon won all her six 1500 m races of the season.[2]
Kipyegon is married to middle-distance runner Timothy Kitum, the 2012 Olympic 800m bronze medalist. They have a daughter, Alyn, born in June 2018. Kipyegon returned to training in January 2019 after almost 18-month break. In June 2019, she competed in her first race since giving birth, winning the Diamond League's Prefontaine Classic in Palo Alto.[35]
All information taken from World Athletics profile.
Event | Time (m:s) | Venue | Date | Notes |
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800 metres | 1:57.68 | Doha, Qatar | 25 September 2020 | |
1000 metres | 2:29.15 | Monaco, Monaco | 14 August 2020 | African record |
1500 metres | 3:50.37 | Monaco, Monaco | 10 August 2022 | NR #2nd all-time [36] |
One mile | 4:16.71 | Brussels, Belgium | 11 September 2015 | |
3000 metres | 8:23.55 | Doha, Qatar | 9 May 2014 | |
5000 metres | 14:31.95 | Eugene, OR, United States | 30 May 2015 | |
4×1500 m relay | 16:33.58 | Nassau, Bahamas | 24 May 2014 | African record |
Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Result | Notes |
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2010 | World Cross Country Championships | Bydgoszcz, Poland | 4th | Junior race | 19:02 | |
1st | Junior team | 10 pts | ||||
2011 | World Cross Country Championships | Punta Umbria, Spain | 1st | Junior race | 18:53 | |
2nd | Junior team | 19 pts | ||||
World Youth Championships | Lille, France | 1st | 1500 m | 4:09.48 | CR | |
2012 | World Junior Championships | Barcelona, Spain | 1st | 1500 m | 4:04.96 | CR |
Olympic Games | London, United Kingdom | h (16th) | 1500 m | 4:08.78 | ||
2013 | World Cross Country Championships | Bydgoszcz, Poland | 1st | Junior race | 17:51 | |
1st | Junior team | 14 pts | ||||
World Championships | Moscow, Russia | 5th | 1500 m | 4:05.08 | ||
2014 | World Relays | Nassau, Bahamas | 1st | 4×1500 m | 16:33.58 | WR |
Commonwealth Games | Glasgow, United Kingdom | 1st | 1500 m | 4:08.94 | ||
2015 | World Championships | Beijing, China | 2nd | 1500 m | 4:08.96 | |
2016 | Olympic Games | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 1st | 1500 m | 4:08.92 | |
2017 | World Cross Country Championship | Kampala, Uganda | 6th | Senior race | 32:49 | |
1st | Senior team | 10 pts | ||||
World Championships | London, United Kingdom | 1st | 1500 m | 4:02.59 | ||
2019 | World Championships | Doha, Qatar | 2nd | 1500 m | 3:54.22 | |
2021 | Olympic Games | Tokyo, Japan | 1st | 1500 m | 3:53.11 | OR |
2022 | World Championships | Eugene, OR, United States | 1st | 1500 m | 3:52.96 |
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World champions in women's 1500 metres | |
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World U20 Champions in women's 1500 metres | |
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World Youth Champions in women's 1500 metres | |
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Commonwealth Games champions in women's 1500 metres | |
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African champions in women's cross country running | |
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Diamond League champions in women's 1500 metres | |
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World best yearly performance in women's 800 metres | |
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World Best Yearly Performance in Women's 1500 metres | |
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