Faith Kipyegon stormed to a historic fourth world 1500m title as the Kenyan great extended her streak of dominance with a fifth consecutive global gold in the ongoing World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
The 31-year-old matched retired men’s world record holder Hicham El Guerrouj as the only other athlete in history to amass four 1500m titles at the championships.
After securing her third consecutive Olympic triumph last year, this was a third straight world gold for Kipyegon, who controlled the final from the start before bursting clear of her rivals on the final lap.
Not only is she unbeaten in the past five global finals, but excluding heats, she has not suffered defeat over the distance for more than four years.
Australia’s Olympic silver medallist Jessica Hull faded to bronze after attempting to follow as Kipyegon wound up the pace, with Dorcus Ewoi securing a Kenyan one-two.
The unstoppable Kipyegon crossed the line in three minutes 52.15 seconds, the chasm separating her from her competitors evidenced by the near three-second wait for Ewoi to follow.
With outstretched arms and a relaxed smile which suggested it had never felt in doubt, Kipyegon celebrated the eighth global gold of her career.
That is level with Jamaican sprint star Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce – the only other woman to win as many as four world titles in the same event – and distance running great Tirunesh Dibaba for the most by a female athlete in individual events.
Kipyegon will now target a second successive world double in the 5,000m, the heats for which begin on Thursday before Saturday’s final.
