Faith Kipyegon Wins 5th Global 1500m Title With Ridiculous 56-Second Final Lap

BUDAPEST, Hungary – Nominally, Faith Kipyegon was competing against the other 11 women on the start line of tonight’s World Championship 1500-meter final. But there was only ever one way this was going to go. The 29-year-old Kenyan has no peers among the current crop of female milers. Only the ghosts of milers past perhaps offered some competition: the 2019 version of Sifan Hassan who won this title in a championship-record 3:51.95 or Kipyegon herself from a year ago in Eugene, where she crushed the field by a second and a half in 3:52.96.

Kipyegon’s winning time tonight of 3:54.87 – her third consecutive global title and fifth overall – was slower than she ran to win Worlds last year or her Olympic title in 2021. Her winning margin of .82 over silver medalist Diribe Welteji of Ethiopia was also smaller. But given what Kipyegon has already accomplished this year (world records at 1500, the mile, and 5000) and given her killer last lap of 56.63 tonight (that’s not a typo), it’s fair to say we’ve never seen a female miler operate at this level before. In 2023, we have seen the greatest of all time at her absolute greatest.

That’s not to say the quality was lacking behind Kipyegon. It took 3:56.00 or better to win a medal, with Welteji claiming silver in 3:55.69 just ahead of Sifan Hassan, who finished part two of her three-act play in Budapest with bronze in 3:56.00. Both women ran their last laps in 57 seconds, which would be enough to win most women’s 1500m races ever contested. But not tonight. Not against this woman.

Ciara Mageean, the 31-year-old who had emerged as a contender after an unlikely breakout last summer, came one spot shy of becoming the first Irish athlete in 28 years to win a World Championship medal on the track. Yet despite running a near-perfect tactical race, hugging the rail throughout and clocking a 3:56.61 Irish record, Mageean could only manage 4th. Such was the caliber of this race. World/Olympic medalist Laura Muir of Great Britain was 6th in 3:58.58 and Cory McGee, the sole American in the final, took 10th in 4:01.60.

It was gold x5 for Kipyegon in Budapest (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images for World Athletics)

Kipyegon led early and the rest of the field deferred to her as she hit honest but not ridiculous opening splits of 65.14 and 2:11.78 (2:11.78 at 800 projects to 4:07.8 for 1500, 2:08.00 is 4:00 pace). At that point, the entire 12-woman pack was still together and Kipyegon began to pick it up. At the bell, Kipyegon shifted gears once again, hitting 1200 in 3:12.41 (60.64 split) and completely blowing apart the pack on the backstretch. Welteji, the 21-year-old Ethiopian who was 4th in the 800 at Worlds last year, was the only one to keep it remotely close, and on the final turn, Kipyegon pulled away from her, too.

That left the other two medals to be decided and Hassan, just as she had four nights earlier in the 10,000, was forced to come from a long way behind after running most of the race toward the back and hitting the bell in 6th. This time, after passing Mageean early in the final turn, Hassan stayed on her feet for a medal. But, just as she ceded Gudaf Tsegay too much room at the bell in the 10k, she could not overcome the gap to Welteji despite a 57-second last lap.

Results

No woman has ever had a better season in the 1500/mile than Faith Kipyegon in 2023

Between her incredible world records in the 1500 and mile and her dominant victory tonight, Faith Kipyegon’s 2023 season will go down as the greatest ever by a female miler. She was amazing last year as well, winning Worlds and running 3:50, 3:52, and 3:52, but the world records clinch it. The only question is whether, with a 5000 WR as well, this is the greatest season ever by any female distance runner. That one is tougher to answer. Sifan Hassan’s 2021 surely deserves mention because of her Olympic triple, but Kipyegon also owned Hassan that year, winning three of their four matchups. Should Kipyegon win the 5,000 in Budapest on Saturday, she’d have a very strong argument for the best season ever.

Faith Kipyegon’s races in 2023

Kipyegon’s last lap was out of this world

Frankly, it’s impressive that anyone was even remotely close to Kipyegon at the end of this one as she her close tonight was one of, if not the fastest ever in a women’s 1500. 56.63 is almost a full two seconds faster than the last lap Kipyegon used to win her first global title seven years ago in Rio, even though the winning time in that race was only 4:08 (granted, the kicking started from farther out in Rio – Kipyegon dropped a 1:57.3 final 800 and split 55.9 from 900 to 1300, tonight Kipyegon’s final 800 was roughly 1:59.8).

Here’s how Kipyegon’s last lap compares to her previous four global titles:

Sifan Hassan’s latest insane feat: winning the London Marathon and medalling in the 1500 at Worlds within the span of four months

On April 23, 2023, Sifan Hassan won the London Marathon. On August 22 – one day shy of four months later – Hassan earned the bronze medal in the 1500 meters at the World Championships. These sort of absurd feats have become the norm for Hassan, which means that they tend to blur together. They shouldn’t. Before Hassan, the idea of a woman in the modern era having the speed to medal in the 1500 and the strength to defeat some of the world’s best marathoners would have been ridiculous to even contemplate in a career, let alone in the span of less than 4 months. But Hassan is so good that she was able to run 3:58 in Hengelo just six weeks after London. By the time she announced on Thursday she would try the 1500/5k/10k triple in Budapest, it seemed not just possible she would medal in the 1500, but likely.

Ciara Mageean could not have done any more

Last summer, Mageean qualified for the World Championships in Oregon but chose not to run there. She was totally healthy, but after making just one global final by age 30 (she was 10th in Doha in 2019), Mageean reached the conclusion that winning a medal was unlikely at Worlds but possible at the Commonwealth Games and European Championships later that summer. Skipping Worlds – and bypassing the significant travel required to reach Oregon – would further boost those chances.

It worked out for Mageean, who earned silver at Commonwealths and Euros and followed that up by dropping her pb from 4:00.15 to 3:56.63 to win the Brussels Diamond League. After a solid year on the circuit and a 4:14.58 runner-up Irish record performance in the mile in Monaco, there was no doubt about it in 2023: Mageean was most definitely a medal contender in Budapest.

The harsh reality in track, like any sport, is that you can get the best out of yourself and still lose. Mageean ran a smart race, running the shortest possible distance until drifting out on the home straight, and she ran a personal best of 3:56.61, even though the first 800 was modest. It just wasn’t good enough on this night for a medal, and while Mageean said it was bittersweet, she appreciated how far she has come from her last appearance at Worlds.

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“To come away with fourth place in the world, it’s amazing to be disappointed in that,” Mageean said.

Nelly Chepchirchir is one to watch

The 20-year-old, who was 4th in the 800 at the World U20 champs last year, was impressive in Budapest, winning her prelim and semi. Her 3:57.90 pb for 5th tonight was nothing to be ashamed of either – a very strong global championship debut. Chepchirchir’s future is very bright and it would not be a surprise to see her on the podium as soon as next year in Paris. 

It was shocking to see only one Ethiopian in the top 8

Ethiopians occupy four of the top five times on the 2023 world list, and three of those women – Hirut Meshesha (3:54.87), Birke Haylom (3:54.93), and Diribe Welteji (3:55.08) – were in the 1500 in Budapest. But only Welteji performed up to her standard in 2nd as Haylom was only 9th tonight and Meshesha did not even make the final. For Haylom, her age (17) may have had something to do with it as she was not able to run fast in her third race in four days. Meshesha, meanwhile, struggled for the second straight Worlds as she was only 12th last year despite winning two Diamond Leagues before Worlds.

After winning the 10k, Gudaf Tsegay (last year’s 1500 silver medalist) said she wanted to triple in the 1500/5k/10k in Budapest, just like Hassan. Maybe the Ethiopian federation will not be more inclined to let her try it in 2024 after tonight.

And here’s a thought, if Tsegay, Hassan and Kipyegon tripled in Paris, could they sweep all 9 medals?