Faith Kipyegon CRUSHES Mile World Record – 4:07.64, First Woman Under 4:10!, Nikki Hiltz Breaks American Record

Faith Kipyegon’s magical 2023 continued as she ran her third world record of the year, destroying the 4:12.33 that Sifan Hassan ran in Monaco four years ago, by running 4:07.64 on the same track at the 2023 Herculis meet. So in one fell swoop, Kipyegon became the first woman to break the 4:12, 4:11, 4:10, 4:09 and 4:08 barriers.

Behind her, every single person in the race set a personal best. Ireland’s Ciara Mageean was second in an Irish record of 4:14.58. National records also fell for Great Britain (Laura Muir, 4:15.24), Australia (Jessica Hull, 4:15.34), USA (Nikki Hiltz, 4:16.35), France (Berenice Cleyet-Merle, 4:26.06), and Venezuela (Joselyn Daniely Brea, 4:27.41).

Altogether, that’s seven national records and continental records for Africa, Australia, North America, and South America.

Faith Kipyegon sets world record in mile 4:07.64 (Kevin Morris photo)

The splits for Kipyegon were 62.6 for her first 400, 62.0 for her second 400 (2:04.6), 62.2 for her third 400 (3:06.8) and then 59.5 for the final 400 as she hit 1600 in 4:06.3.

“I have to say thank God for this. I really enjoyed the race….When I started this season, my goal was to just break the 1500 WR. It was still in my head and in my mind. Thank God I did also the 1 mile and the 5000. So many,” said Kipyegon to race organizers after the race.

As amazing as 4:07.64 for a women’s mile sounds, it actually converts to slower than her 3:49.11 1500 world record from last month in Florence. It converts to 3:49.26 according to the 1.0802 conversion that LRC stat guru John Kellogg likes to use and 3:50.20 according to the World Athletics scoring table.

Unreal! 😱

Faith Kipyegon's THIRD world record this season with a 4:07.64 mile!⁰
📺: @peacock pic.twitter.com/IR6y6odscj

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 21, 2023

Quick Take: There’s never been an elite mile like this one

Faith Kipyegon sets world record in mile 4:07.64

Monaco has long been known for producing fast men’s 1500 times, in part because the fields/pacemaking are always good, in part because athletes are ready/willing to run fast, and in part because the timing of the meet (typically late July, one of the final Diamond Leagues before Worlds) mean that everyone is approaching peak fitness. Add in the fact that the women’s mile is rarely run at the professional level and it’s not a surprise that we saw a bunch of fast times tonight.

What is surprising is the depth. All 13 finishers set a pb, seven set national records, and there were continental records for Africa, Oceania, North America, and South America. Many of the national records had stood for decades and belong to some of the biggest names in the history of the sport. Check it out:

Half of the all-time top 10 ran their pbs in today’s race.

1. 4:07.64 Faith Kipyegon 2023 Monaco
2. 4:12.33 Sifan Hassan 2019 Monaco
3. 4:12.56 Svetlana Masterkova 1996 Zurich
4. 4:13.31i Genzebe Dibaba 2016 Stockholm
5. 4:14.58 Ciara Mageean 2023 Monaco
6. 4:14.79 Freweyni Hailu 2023 Monaco
7. 4:15.24 Laura Muir 2023 Monaco
8. 4:15.34 Jessica Hull 2023 Monaco
9. 4:15.61 Paula Ivan 1989 Nice
10. 4:15.8h Natalya Artyomova 1984 Leningrad

It’s worth noting that Melissa Courtney-Bryant (4:16.38) and Elise Cranny (4:16.47) would also have set British and American records, respectively, had Muir and Hiltz not beaten them to it.

Nikki Hiltz Gets American Record and Joins the Sub-4 Club

Nikki Hiltz in Monaco (Kevin Morris Photo)

Nikki Hiltz’s fabulous 2023 campaign continued as Hiltz ran 4:16.35 to break Mary Slaney’s long-standing American record of 4:16.71 from 1985.

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Hiltz made the US team for Worlds in 2019, but then was only 13th at the Olympic Trials in 2021. That prompted a change to coach Mike Smith in Flagstaff in 2022 and the results were not immediate. Hiltz did run 4:21.89 in the mile last year (equivalent to 4:02.4 for 1500m), but nothing predicted their 2023 breakout campaign. (Hiltz identifies as non-binary transgender and prefers they/them pronouns and is female).

Hiltz won USA indoors, then ran 4:18.38 in the mile in Oslo (equivalent to 3:59.2 for 1500) before winning the USA title earlier this month. Hilz not only got the American record today by edging Cranny, but also went sub-4 for the first time officially as Hiltz’s 1500m split was 3:59.61.

Hiltz’s time today converts to 3:57.32 using the LetsRun.com 1.0802 conversion. That would put Hiltz 5th on the all-time US female 1500 list.

1	3:54.99	Shelby HOULIHAN	08 FEB 1993	USA	4		Khalifa International Stadium, Doha (QAT)	05 OCT 2019	1246
2	3:56.29	Shannon ROWBURY	19 SEP 1984	USA	3		Stade Louis II, Monaco (MON)	17 JUL 2015	1236
3	3:57.12	Mary DECKER	04 AUG 1958	USA	1		Stockholm (SWE)	26 JUL 1983	1229
4	3:57.22	Jenny SIMPSON	23 AUG 1986	USA	2		Paris (FRA)	05 JUL 2014	1228
5	3:57.32	Nikki Hiltz	23 OCT1984	USA	6		Monaco	21 JUL 2023*

Talk about Kipyegon on the messageboard.

1. Official 2023 Monaco DL Live Discussion Thread (+ Reminder: Instant Reaction show at 4:10 pm ET)
2. Faith Kipyegon Monaco mile prediction thread
3. New Women’s American Record in the Mile
4. Male collegiate athletes slower than 4:07.64 should quit