The Kenyan Faith Kipyegon ratified her status as the undisputed queen of the middle distance after establishing a new world record for the 1,500 metersby winning this Sunday at the Paris Meeting, eighth stage of the Diamond Leaguewith a time of 3m49s04.
Kipyegon, double Olympic distance champion, lowered by 7 hundredths the previous universal record that she herself held with a time of 3m49s11 since June 2, 2023. “It’s incredible to break the world record. I’m heading in the right direction towards the Paris Olympics”said the woman born 30 years ago in the city of Bometwho confirmed that he will try to repeat in the Olympic event the double -1500 and 5,000- that he already achieved last year at the World Championships in Budapest.
A titanic goal but one that seems more than feasible for this Kenyan who last season monopolized all the spotlights after breaking the world records of the 1,500, the mile and the 5,000 meters.
Records that Kipyegon had not been able to reach this year due to muscle problems, which had only allowed him to run in his country’s selection tests held last June in Nairobi. Ailments from which the African has fully recovered, as demonstrated this Sunday in Paris in a final of the 1,500 meters in which, in addition to the universal record, a new record for Oceania was established, as well as the national records of Great Britain and France.
National records to which a fourth was about to be added, that of Spain, after Esther Guerrero, who set a time of 3m59s74, 23 hundredths of the record -3m59s51- of Natalia Rodríguez, in force since 2005.
Consequence of the frenetic pace that Faith Kipyegon imposed on the test, which was forced by the resistance of the Australian Jessica Hullsecond with 3m50s83, a new Oceania record, beat her own universal record by 7 hundredths.
A real warning of what Kipyegon can do in the Olympic Games that will start in 19 days in the French capital, in which the Kenyan will seek gold in the 1,500 and 5,000, who knows, given what happened this Sunday, with a new record of the world included
The wind prevents Duplantis from joining the party
Two world records, that of Kipyegon in the 1,500 meters and that of the Ukrainian Yaroslava Mahuchikh in the high jump, after crossing 2.10 meters, which was almost joined by a third in the pole vault. However, The wind prevented the Swede Armand Duplantis from surpassing the 6.24 that he set on April 20 in the Chinese city of Xiamen, the first stage of the Diamond League, as a new universal record.
In fact, the gale that hit the jumping hall forced the current Olympic, world and European champion to abort his first attempt over 6.25 meters and conditioned the second, while in his third jump, despite the fact that at times he seemed ready After surpassing the bar, he ended up knocking down the bar.
Three athletes under 1m42 in the 800
The weather conditions did not prevent the Algerian from Djamel Sedjati winning with a time of 1m41s56, the third best mark of all time, in a spectacular 800 meter final in which the top three finishers fell below the 1m42 barrier.
Sedjati, silver at the Eugene 2022 World Championships, was two hundredths ahead of the Kenyan Emmanuel Wanyonyi, second with 1m41s58, and in five the Frenchman Gabriel Tual, third with 1m41s61, who achieved the fourth and fifth best times, respectively, of all times in an exciting race.