Faith Kipyegon eyes Genzebe Dibaba’s World Record

Two times Olympic Games 1500m champion Faith Kipyegon has set her eyes on breaking the World Record in the coming season.

The double World 1,500m champion said that she has tried on many occasions but missed by a small margin.

“I have been trying to set the world record but I have been missing it by a small margin. This time, I’m praying that all things go the right way to secure the record,” she said.

The 27 year-old who missed the 1500m world record by just three-tenths of a second at the Monaco Diamond League as she went ahead to claim the Diamond league title for the third time.

The 2014 Commonwealth Games champions clocked 3:50.37 missing the world record of 3:50.07 that was set in 2015 at the same venue by Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba.

Kipyegon, who defended her Olympic Games 1,500m in Tokyo last summer after winning in 2016, became the second fastest woman in the world, setting the National Record during the Monaco Meeting said that she has great hopes on the new season.

“I can say for the world record I am still headed up towards next year and hopefully am going to try my best and break the world record,” she added.

Kipyego was Speaking in Kapsabet, Nandi County during the installation of Air Quality Sensor that was graced by Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba.

“Training in areas of Kaptagat is perfect. It has good air quality for breathing and that can be achieved by planting trees. I came from Keringet where the air was good again then to Kaptagat and it is working well. And I would like to see other places like West Pokot or Turkana having good air because we see the drought is really big in such areas. People are really suffering because of climate change,” said Kipyego.

Kipyegon burst into limelight at the age of 16-years during the 2010 World Cross Country Championships, where she finished outside the podium in the junior race. The following year she declared herself to the world with her first of two junior global cross-country titles just weeks before setting a new 1500m Championship Record at the World Youth championships in Lille, France.

The Bomet born girl who used to run without shoes in primary school sailed to the senior team after getting the qualifying time during the Kenyan Olympics trials where she made it to the team that left for the London 2012 Games.

The then 18-year-old made her debut at the World champs in 2013 in Moscow, where she managed to pick a fourth place and since Beijing 2015, Kipyegon has been on the podium four times, twicetopping it.

Kipyego took her maternity leave for 21 months after giving birth to a bouncing baby girl, Alyn, in 2018 and when she came back she was forced to shift and also change coaches for her comeback. She moved to Global Sports Communication where joined the renown coach Patrick Kipsang who understood how her body was working after the maternity leave.