Faith Kipyegon


Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon is a Kenyan middle-distance runner and the current Olympic champion in the 1500 m women's having won the Rio Olympics on 16 August 2016. She won the gold medal at the 2017 World Championships and the silver medal at the 2019 World Championships.
She is also the Commonwealth champion having won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland with a time of 4 minutes 08.94 seconds. She won the gold medal at the 2011 World Youth Championships in Athletics, and a gold medal the next year at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she competed in the Women's 1500 metres but got 9th in the 3rd heat and failed to qualify for the finals. She won the women's junior race in the World Cross Country Championships in 2013. She competed in the 2013 World Championships in Athletics and Came in 5th place in the final with a time of 4:05.08.

Career

2010

At age 16, Faith Kipyegon ran in the 2010 World Cross Country Championships women's junior race. She came in 5th place individually and won the gold medal with her team.

2011

She participated in the 2011 World Cross Country Championships in Punta Umbria and won the gold medal in the junior race both with her team and individually. A few months afterward, she competed at the World Youth Championships in the women's 1500 m winning the gold medal ahead of three Ethiopian runners with a time of 4:09.48.

2012

In the 2012 World Junior Championships in Barcelona, she won the gold medal way ahead of the field with a time of 4:04.96; the Serbian Amela Terzić and Ethiopian Teferi Senbere took 2nd and 3rd. She qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics in the women's 1500 m, in London, but failed to qualify for the finals.

2013

At the beginning of the 2013 season, Kipyegon won the junior race individual at the World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz Poland. On 10 May, at the Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix in Doha, she established a new Kenyan Record in the women's 1500 m in a time of 3:56.98, facing the Swedish runner Abeba Aregawi. In August 2013, at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow, Faith Kipyegon came in fifth in the final of the women's 1500 m in a time of 4:05.08.

2014

In 2014, she won the gold medal in the 4 × 1500 m Relay at the first IAAF World Relays in Nassau, Bahamas, along with Mercy Cherono, Irene Jelagat and Hellen Obiri. The Kenya team, ahead of the United States and Australia, improved the World Record time to 16:33.58. She also won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.

2015

On 25 August 2015, Kipyegon won silver at World Championships in Beijing, finishing second to world record holder Genzebe Dibaba in the 1500 m.
On 11 September 2015, at Diamond League finale in Brussels, Kipyegon won the mile in 4:16.71, beating Sifan Hassan, who finished in 4:18.20., in the final stretch.

2016

In August 2016, Kipyegon competed at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, where she won the 1500 meters in 4:08.92 with a 56.8-second final lap.

2017

In 2017, she won two Diamond League races in Shanghai and Eugene. Her best success of this year was the first place at the 2017 World Championships, becoming only the third woman in history to win both the Olympic and World Championships 1500m race.

Major competition record

Personal bests