• Kipyegon always saves her best for championships, and in Tokyo last year she retained her Olympic title in style in 3:53.11.
• Kipyegon has tasted defeat over 800m and 3000m already this season, but when it comes to the women’s 1500m final on July 18, it’s hard to envisage anyone getting the better of the Kenyan, who possesses a change of gears that so often proves unstoppable.
Image: FILE
As it stands, few could argue with Faith Kipyegon’s claims to being the greatest female 1500m runner of all time.
But if the 27-year-old can reclaim her world title in Oregon – and make it a fourth global outdoor championships gold – then the debate will be fully over.
Based on recent form, it will take something very special to stop her. The Kenyan was beaten to gold by Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands at the last edition of these championships in Doha in 2019, but since then she has been close to unbeatable at her favoured distance, her sole loss coming at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Florence last year after a thrilling home-straight duel with Hassan.
But as good as she is on the circuit, Kipyegon always saves her best for championships, and in Tokyo last year she retained her Olympic title in style in 3:53.11. She also clocked a blazing 3:51.07 in Monaco, the fourth fastest time in history.
Kipyegon has tasted defeat over 800m and 3000m already this season, but when it comes to the women’s 1500m final on July 18, it’s hard to envisage anyone getting the better of the Kenyan, who possesses a change of gears that so often proves unstoppable.
At the Diamond League meeting in Eugene in late May, Kipyegon took on many of her chief rivals and prevailed with a racing style that has become her trademark – coasting to the shoulder of the leader on the final lap and exploding off the final turn – clocking 3:52.59 on a damp, cool day ahead of Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay (3:54.21).
Those times put them well clear of the others on the 2022 world list, but one athlete who has been laying low so far this season due to health issues – and who, at her best, can trouble Kipyegon – is Hassan. The Dutch star ran her first race of the season on Friday 8 July, clocking a modest 15:13.41 for 5000m in Portland, USA. Hassan, the Olympic champion at 5000m and 10,000m, is also entered for both of those events in Oregon but she plans to contest just two, unlike in Tokyo, with the decision on which event to drop to be made in the coming days.
Her coach, Tim Rowberry, recently told Letsrun.com that she “is trying to take things slowly so she doesn’t burn herself out next year while building up for Paris”, adding that Hassan fasting during Ramadan “interrupted training more than usual” this year so Rowberry “felt it was necessary to postpone her races leading into Prefontaine rather than interrupt the slow training build up.”
Tsegay, the world indoor 1500m record-holder, will be hoping to bring the gold medal in this event back to Ethiopia for just the second time in the event’s history following Genzebe Dibaba’s victory in 2015. She was a dominant winner of the 1500m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade earlier this year and proved her endurance is in good order with a runner-up finish in Oslo last month over 5000m in 14:26.69. She will be joined by a pair of strong compatriots in 21-year-olds Hirut Meshesa and Freweyni Hailu.
They followed her home in Belgrade as Ethiopia swept the medal rostrum, with Hailu second and Meshesha third. Hailu, who was fourth in the Olympic final in Tokyo, clocked a season’s best of 3:58.18 to finish second in Rabat last month, where Meshesha took victory in 3:57.30, with Meshesha backing that up with victory in Rome in a cagey race in 4:03.79.
Hopes will be high among the home fans that a US athlete can reach the podium and they have a strong contingent in Sinclaire Johnson, Elle St Pierre and Cory McGee. Johnson took victory at the US Championships with a blazing kick, while the PB of 3:58.85 she ran to finish fourth to Kipyegon in Eugene in May shows she can also be competitive in a fast race. St Pierre, the world indoor 3000m silver medallist, could also be a threat, particularly in a fast race.
Britain’s Laura Muir has yet to clock a 1500m time this year that’s truly indicative of her ability – her best is the 4:02.81 she ran in Birmingham in May – but the Olympic silver medallist proved her vast range of gears is in full working order last month when clocking 1:57.23 in a mixed 800m race in Stretford then following it up with a 1:58.09 runner-up finish in Oslo.
Australia will have a strong trio in Jessica Hull, Georgia Griffith and Linden Hall. Hall was sixth in the Olympic final last year and has a season’s best of 4:00.58, while Griffith is just ahead of her on season’s bests via the 4:00.16 PB she ran in Rabat. Hull has been in outstanding form this year, setting national records over a mile and 3000m, and she finished fifth in 3:59.31 in Eugene in May.
Uganda’s Winnie Nanyondo finished fourth in the world indoor final in Belgrade and with a season’s best of 4:00.25, she will have her eyes on a spot in the final – at the very least.