Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon (born 10 January 1994) is a Kenyan

middle-distance runner Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, up to 3000 metres. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distance event. The 1 ...

specializing in the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athle ...

. A 2016 Rio Olympic and 2020 Tokyo Olympic champion with the Games record at the latter, she is the second woman in history to claim back-to-back Olympic titles at the event. Kipyegon has won or finished second in every major championships since 2015 (

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

), and is regarded the greatest female 1500 metres runner in history. She is a two-time

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

from

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and

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as well as two-time world silver medallist from

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, when she lost only to the multiple world record-holder

Genzebe Dibaba Genzebe Dibaba Keneni ( Oromo: ''Ganzabee Dibaabaa Qananii''; Amharic: ገንዘቤ ዲባባ ቀነኒ; born 8 February 1991) is an Ethiopian middle- and long-distance runner. A 1500 metres 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist, she won a gold med ...

, and

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, when she returned after giving birth in previous year. In August 2022, she achieved the second-fastest time in history, setting her consecutive Kenyan record. Kipyegon won her specialist event at the 2011 World Under-18 Championships, and 2012 World U20 Championships. At the age of 18, she did not reach semifinals of the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, but won the junior races at the

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

and 2013 World Cross Country Championships, and finished fifth at the 2013 World Championships. She was

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

champion, and a three-time

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

winner. Kipyegon was cited as one of the Top 100 most influential Africans by

New African ''New African'' is an English-language monthly news magazine based in London. Published since 1966, it is read by many people across the African continent and the African diaspora. It claims to be the oldest pan-African monthly in English, as w ...

magazine in 2017.

Career

Junior career

Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon Barcelona 2012

At age 16, Faith Kipyegon ran in the

2010 World Cross Country Championships The 2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships were held at Myślęcinek Park in Bydgoszcz, Poland on 28 March 2010. It was the first time in over twenty years that Poland hosted the annual championships, having previously held them in Warsaw i ...

women's junior race in

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with mor ...

, Poland. She came in fourth place individually and won the gold medal with her under-20 team. She participated in the 2011 World Cross Country Championships in Punta Umbria, Spain and took the gold medal in the junior race, adding silver with her team. A few months afterward, she competed in the 1500 m at the World Youth Championships in

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the No ...

, France winning a gold medal ahead of two Ethiopian runners with a time of 4m 9.48s and breaking a championship record in the process. At the 2012 World Junior Championships held in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, Kipyegon won the gold medal in her specialist event way ahead of the field with a time of 4:04.96; the Serbian

Amela Terzić Amela Terzić (Serbian Cyrillic: Амела Терзић, born 2 January 1993) is a Serbian middle-distance runner. She won two gold medals at 2011 European Athletics Junior Championships in Tallinn and was the junior champion at the 2012 Euro ...

and Ethiopian

Senbere Teferi Senbere Teferi (born 3 May 1995) is an Ethiopian professional middle- and long-distance runner who competes mainly in the 1500 metres and cross country running. She was the silver medallist at the 2015 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. Sh ...

took second and third place respectively. That time she also set a championship record. The then 18-year-old qualified for the London Olympics, but at the event failed to advance to the semi-finals clocking 4:08.78. At the beginning of the 2013 season, she took a gold in the junior race both with her team at the

World Cross Country Championships World Athletics Cross Country Championships is the most important competition in international cross country running. Formerly held annually and organised by World Athletics (formerly the IAAF), it was inaugurated in 1973, when it replaced the Int ...

in Bydgoszcz, Poland. On 10 May, at the

meeting in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor, it is home to m ...

, Qatar, she established a Kenyan record in the 1500 m with a time of 3:56.98, facing the Swedish runner

Abeba Aregawi Abeba Aregawi Gebretsadik (Amharic: አበባ አረጋዊ ;born 5 July 1990) is an Ethiopian-Swedish retired middle-distance runner who specialised in the 1500 metres. She won the bronze medal in the 1500 m at the 2012 Summer Olympics and a gol ...

. In August, at the Moscow World Championships, the 19-year-old came fifth in the final in a time of 4:05.08.

Senior career

2014: Commonwealth champion

In May, she was a part of the team which won the gold medal in the 4×1500 m relay at the first

IAAF World Relays The World Athletics Relays, known as the ''IAAF World Relays'' until 2019, is an international biennial track and field sporting event held by World Athletics where teams from around the world compete in relay races, some of which are not part ...

Nassau Nassau may refer to: Places Bahamas *Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence Canada *Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792 *Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...

, Bahamas, along with

Mercy Cherono Mercy Cherono Koech (born 7 May 1991) is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner. She was the silver medalist in the 5000 metres at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics. She is a two-time world junior champion in the 3000 metres (200 ...

, Irene Jelagat and

Hellen Obiri Hellen Onsando Obiri (born 13 December 1989) is a Kenyan middle- and long-distance runner. She is a two-time Olympic 5000 metres silver medallist from the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where she also placed fourth over the 10,000 metres. Sh ...

. The Kenyan team, ahead of the United States and Australia, set a new world record of 16:33.58. The same year in July, she became

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the ex ...

1500 m champion in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

, Scotland in a time of 4:08.94. Women's 1500 m podium Beijing 2015

2015: World championship silver medallist

On 25 August, Kipyegon won a silver in the 1500 m event at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

held in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

. After a tactical race she finished in a time of 4:08.96 second to Ethiopia's world record holder

who clocked 4:08.09. Siffan Hassan representing the Netherlands was third in 4:09.34. On 11 September, at the

meeting in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, she won the

one mile The mile run (1,760 yards or exactly 1,609.344 metres) is a middle-distance foot race. The history of the mile run event began in England, where it was used as a distance for gambling races. It survived track and field's switch t ...

with an African and a meet record of 4:16.71, beating Hassan who ran 4:18.20 in the final stretch.

2016: First Olympic title in Rio

On 14 May, Kipyegon improved her own 2013 1500 m Kenyan record by running 3:56.82 when winning

Shanghai Golden Grand Prix The Diamond League Shanghai is an annual athletics event at the Shanghai Stadium in Shanghai, China as part of the Diamond League. The meeting was founded as the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix in 2005. The meet assumed its current name in 2010. From ...

meeting. Two weeks later, she bested her record with a 3:56.41 performance to place first at the

Prefontaine Classic The Prefontaine Classic, an Oregon Track Club event, is one of the premier track and field meets in the United States, held in Eugene, Oregon. Every year it draws a world caliber field to compete at Hayward Field on the campus of the Universi ...

in Eugene, Oregon. She also won the mile event during Oslo Bislett Games meet in June. The then 22-year-old became

2016 Olympic Games ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro d ...

1500 m gold medallist in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

reversing the order from the previous year's World Championships. She outsprinted Dibaba in the final 200 m in what was initially a slow tactical

race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

, with a third lap in 56.80 and last 800 m in a fast 800m races pace of 1:57.2. Kipyegon clocked 4:08.92, Dibaba 4:10.27, and Jenny Simpson was third in 4:10.53.

2017: First world title

She earned her first

1500 m title, winning three races in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

, Eugene, and

. Her best success of that year was the first place at the London World Championships, becoming only the third woman in history to win both the Olympic and World Championships 1500 m race. She ran 4:02.59 while three next women also recorded times below 4m 3s, with Jenny Simpson in second and

Caster Semenya Mokgadi Caster Semenya OIB (born 7 January 1991) is a South African middle-distance runner and winner of two Olympic gold medals and three World Championships in the women's 800 metres. She first won gold at the World Championships in 2009 ...

third .

2018–2020: World championship silver medallist

Kipyegon gave birth to her first child in 2018, returning 12 months later, in June 2019, to win her signature event in 3:59:04 at the Prefontaine Classic in

Palo Alto Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was es ...

. She went on to take the silver medal at the

, where she set her new Kenyan record of 3:54.22. Sifan Hassan came first in 3:51.95 while the third-placed

Gudaf Tsegay Gudaf Tsegay Desta (born 23 January 1997) is an Ethiopian middle- and long-distance runner. She is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist in the women's 5000 metres. At the World Athletics Championships, she won a bronze for the 1500 metres i ...

set a best of 3:54.38. In 2020, she competed at the

and Continental Tour meetings staying unbeaten in all her six races. In August, she ran the second-fastest time ever, an African and Diamond League record in the

1000 metres The 1000 metres is an uncommon middle-distance running event in track and field competitions. The 1000 yards, an imperial alternative, was sometimes also contested. All-time top 25 *h = hand timed *i = indoor performance *A = affected by ...

at the

Herculis The Herculis is an annual track and field meet at Stade Louis II in Fontvieille, Monaco. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the Diamond League. World records Over the course of its history, five world re ...

meet in

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

, with her result of 2m 29.15s just 0.17 s short of the world record.

2021: Second back-to-back Olympic title in Tokyo

In 2021, she improved her Kenyan national record twice at the

meetings. On 10 June, she ran 3:53.91 at the Rome Golden Gala, staged exceptionally in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

, to finish second just behind Sifan Hassan who timed 3:53.63. On 9 July at the Monaco Herculis, Kipyegon stopped the clock at a world-leading 3m 51.07s – the fourth-fastest time in history and just one second off Genzebe Dibaba's world record – outsprinting Hassan in the home straight by about 2.5 s. At the women's 1500 m final of the delayed

2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

in August, Kipyegon overtook Hassan in the last 200 m to secure her second consecutive Olympic gold medal in the event in a time of 3m 53.11s, breaking an Olympic record which had stood for 33 years. She became the second woman in history to win back-to-back Olympic 1500 m titles. While Hassan faded in the home stretch (3:55.86)

Laura Muir Laura Muir (born 9 May 1993) is a Scottish middle- and long-distance runner. She is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medallist in the 1500 metres, having previously finished seventh in the event at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Muir won the bronze meda ...

set a British record of 3:54.50 to clinch the silver medal. In September, she beat Hassan again at the Zürich Weltklasse Diamond League final to take her second 1500 m Diamond Trophy. Kipyegon won nine out of her ten races of the season.

2022: Second world title

At the

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, ...

in July, Kipyegon won decisively the 1500 m gold medal with a time of 3:52.96, which made her the first female athlete to win four global titles over the distance. Gudaf Tsegay placed second in 3:54.52 while Laura Muir earned bronze (3:55.28). In August at the

's Monaco meet, Kipyegon set a new national record of 3m 50.37s, the second-fastest performance of all time and just 0.3 s off the Dibaba's world record which was set also in Monaco in 2015. She split 60.5 / 62.1 / 62.1 / 45.67 (last 400 m in 61.3) and as of August 2022 held six of the thirteen fastest women's 1500 m performances in history. She ended her yet another successful season with a clear victory in Zürich circuit's final the following month, this time closing strongly after a tactical race (last lap in 57.75 and last 200 m in 27.8) to earn her third Diamond League 1500 m title. Kipyegon won all her six 1500 m races of the season. In November interview with ''

Athletics Weekly ''AW'' (formerly ''Athletics Weekly'') is a monthly track and field magazine published in the United Kingdom by Athletics Weekly Limited. The magazine covers news, results, fixtures, coaching and product advice for all aspects of track and field, ...

'', she said that in the future she would like to run

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

2023

Kipyegon got her 2023 campaign off to strong start on 4 February with a dominant victory at the Sirikwa Cross Country Classic (10 km) in home

Eldoret Eldoret is a principal town in the Rift Valley region of Kenya and serves as the capital of Uasin Gishu County. The town was referred to by white settlers as Farm 64, 64 and colloquially by locals as 'Sisibo'. As per the 2019 Kenya Population ...

Personal life

Kipyegon is married to middle-distance runner

Timothy Kitum Timothy Kitum (born 20 November 1994) is a Kenyan middle distance runner. He also won Commonwealth Youth Games 800m with a Games Record 1.49.32 He won a silver medal in the 800 m at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics in Barcelona, ...

, the 2012 Olympic 800 m bronze medallist. They have a daughter, Alyn, born in June 2018. She returned to training in January 2019 after almost 18-month break. Six months later, Kipyegon competed in her first race since giving birth, winning her specialty at the

. She trains in

Kaptagat Kaptagat is a human settlement in Uasin Gishu County, in the southwestern part of Kenya. This part of the country, where the two counties of Uasin Gishu and Elgeyo Marakwet County share a border, is used by the majority of Kenyan professional l ...

coached by Patrick Sang (who is also coaching

world record-holder

Eliud Kipchoge Eliud Kipchoge ( ; born 5 November 1984) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in the marathon and formerly specialized at the 5000 metre distance. Widely regarded as the greatest marathon runner of all time, he is the 2016 and 2020 O ...

Achievements

All information taken from

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

profile.

Personal bests

International competitions

Circuit wins and titles

champion 1500 m (3): Diamond blue

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

(1) One Mile: Brussels Memorial Van Damme **

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

1500 m (2): Shanghai Diamond League, Eugene Prefontaine Classic; One Mile (1): Oslo Bislett Games **

(3) 1500 m: Shanghai, Eugene, Brussels **

(1) 1500 m: Prefontaine Classic in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

1000 m (2): Monaco Herculis ( ), Brussels; 800 m (1):

Doha Diamond League The Doha Diamond League is an annual one-day track and field meeting held at the Suheim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar. It is part of the Diamond League – the top level international circuit for the sport. It is typically held in May as the fi ...

800 m (1): Doha; 1500 m (3): Monaco ( ), Eugene (MR), Zürich Weltklasse **

(3) 1500 m: Eugene (WL MR), Monaco Herculis (WL NR), Zürich * World Athletics Cross Country Tour **

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

: Sirikwa Cross Country Classic

National titles

Kenyan Cross Country Championships The Kenyan Cross Country Championships is an annual cross country running competition that serves as the national championship for Kenya. It is organised by Athletics Kenya and has permit race status from the International Association of Athletics ...

** Senior women's race: 2014, 2015

Awards and honours

Kenyan Sports Personality of the Year Kenyan Sport Personality of the Year Awards, also known as SOYA Awards, are annual national awards given for sports personalities and organisations in Kenya. The awards were initiated in 2004 by Paul Tergat. The awards for each year are held at th ...

– Sportswoman of the Year: 2021, 2022

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kipyegon, Faith Chepngetich Living people 1994 births People from Bomet County Kalenjin people Kenyan female middle-distance runners Kenyan female cross country runners Olympic female middle-distance runners Olympic athletes of Kenya Olympic gold medalists for Kenya Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Kenya Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Kenya World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Championships winners African Cross Country Championships winners Diamond League winners World Athletics record holders (relay) Commonwealth Games competitors for Kenya