After an impressive 2025 campaign that has seen her shatter her own 1,500m world record, the Silesia Diamond League organisers have confirmed that triple Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon will have a crack at the long-standing women's 3,000m mark on August 16.
The current women's mark over the distance stands at 8:06.11, set by Wang Junxia in 1993 in Beijing. Kipyegon's best over the distance stands at 8:23.55, a mark she set back at the 2014 Doha Diamond League, where she placed third.
Her time from the 2014 Doha event places her in position 39 in the all-time women's rankings. The four-time world champion has featured in two other 3,000m races. In 2015, she clocked 8:38.91, placing eighth at the Prefontaine Classic. Her last 3,000m race was in 2022 at the Doha meeting, where she clocked 8:38.05 for a second-place finish.
However, the Silesia Diamond League organisers have tipped Kipyegon to break the long-standing mark, noting that the 31-year-old was still relatively young in 2014 when she set her lifetime best, compared to what she has achieved since then.
"The barrier to break in Silesia on August 16 will be 8:06.11. That was the time achieved by Junxia Wang at 3,000m in 1993. Kipyegon's personal best is now 11 years old. When she set it in Qatar in 2014, she was barely 20 years old and much inferior to her current self," the statement from the organisers read.
Silesia meeting communication director, Marek Plawgo, also tipped Kipyegon to attack the mark, giving an example of Ingebrigtsen, who broke the men's mark.
"She is capable of more and she knows more, for example, about Ingebrigtsen improving the 3,000m world record in our stadium last year. On the men's side, just as with women, the record looked unbreakable. But nothing is forever," Plawgo said.
Ingebrigtsen shattered the men's 3,000m mark at the 2024 Silesia meeting, clocking 7:17.55 to obliterate the previous mark held by Daniel Komen by three seconds (7:17.55).
In the women's 3,000m, double Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet came close to shattering the mark when she clocked 8:11.56 to win at the Rabat Diamond League in May. Since launching her 2025 campaign in Xiamen on April 26, Kipyegon has been in imperious form.
She opened her season with a sizzling 2:29.21 in the 1,000m, just shy of Russia's Svetlana Masterkova’s 1996 world record of 2:28.98.
On June 26 in Paris, she dared to rewrite history at the Nike ‘Breaking4’ event, attempting to become the first woman to crack the four-minute mile barrier. She fell short, clocking 4:06.42, but bounced back in emphatic style.
At the Prefontaine Classic on July 5, Kipyegon obliterated her world 1,500m record, stopping the clock at a swift 3:48.68, to become the first woman ever to dip under 3:49.In that race, she led Ethiopia's Diribe Welteji (3:51.44) and Australia's Jessica Hull (3:52.67).
