Friday’s result continued a dominant stretch for Kipyegon, the two-time defending Olympic 1500-meter gold medalist and a two-time world champion. On June 2, she broke the world record in the women’s 1500 meters with a time of 3 minutes 49.11 seconds at a Diamond League meet in Florence. A week later, she established a new world record in the women’s 5000 meters by clocking 14 minutes 5.20 seconds in Paris, despite having not raced that distance in eight years.
Kipyegon is expected to compete in the 1500 m and 5000 m at next month’s world championships in Budapest.
“I have done good training so far and I just came for it,” Kipyegon told Reuters on Friday. “The time — yes, it was really good because the race was well planned. It just went smoothly and to accomplish the world record — that is amazing.”
Kipyegon’s time Friday at Stade Louis II was the fastest of a historic race, which saw seven national records, including a 38-year-old American mark, fall. Ciara Mageean finished second in an Irish women’s mile record 4:14.58, followed by Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu (4:14.79), Britain’s Laura Muir (4:15.24) and Australia’s Jessica Hull (4:15.34). Muir and Hull’s marks were both national records.
Nikki Hiltz finished sixth in 4:16.35, breaking American legend Mary Decker Slaney’s record of 4:16.71, which had stood since 1985. Fellow American Elise Cranny, who finished eighth, also bested Slaney’s time with a mark of 4:16.47.
Before Hassan established the new standard in the women’s mile in 2019, Russian Svetlana Masterkova’s record of 4:12.56 stood for 23 years.
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