Faith Kipyegon/ FILETriple Olympic and four-time world 1,500m champion Faith Kipyegon vows she will not stop winning, driven by the desire to inspire the next generation of female distance runners.
Her declaration follows a masterful performance at the Tokyo World Championships, where she claimed a historic fourth world 1,500m title.
Kipyegon is the second woman to win four world titles in the same event after Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who has five 100m titles.
“I will not stop winning because the next generation looks up to me,” Kipyegon says. “I get hungrier to inspire more.”
In Tokyo, the 31-year-old clocked 3:52.15 to win, ahead of compatriot Dorcas Ewoi (3:54.92) and Australia’s Jessica Hull (3:55.16).
This adds to her previous world titles in London 2017, Eugene 2022, and Budapest 2023. She also took silver in the 5,000m behind Beatrice Chebet.
Kipyegon credits her relentless drive to inspiring young women.
“Many say they want to be like me. That pushes me to train harder, knowing youths look up to me.”
No Kenyan female athlete matches her record in distance running.
She is the only woman with three Olympic 1,500m titles—Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020, and Paris 2024—and holds five Diamond League titles.
Kipyegon also won the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the 2012 world junior, and the 2011 world youth 1,500m titles.
Her dominance extends beyond the track. She is a three-time World Cross Country champion—twice as a junior and once as a senior.
In 2023, she broke Genzebe Dibaba’s 1,500m world record with 3:49.11, becoming the first woman under 3:50.
A week later, she shattered the 5,000m world record with 14:05.20, then set a new mile record (4:07.64) in Monaco.
Earlier this year, she nearly ran a sub-four-minute mile, clocking 4:06.42 at Nike Breaking4.
On July 5, she broke the mile record again with 3:48.68, the first woman under 3:49.
Kipyegon aims to keep conquering the 5,000m.
“I’m glad to medal in the 5,000m. My main goal is the 1,500m, but I want to make history in the 5,000m too.”
She will end her season at the Athlos Meeting, hoping to defend her title, which she won last year in 4:04.79.
“I have one race left—the Athlos women-only race—then I wrap up my season,” she said.
