Kipyegon retains 1500m title

AFP | Tokyo

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon retained t h e Olympic women’s 1500m title yesterday to put an end to Dutch athlete Sifan Hassan’s audacious bid for an unprecedented track treble in Tokyo.

Kipyegon broke the 33-year-old Olympic record set by Romanian Paula Ivan at the Seoul Games as she clocked 3min 53.11sec in hot, humid conditions at the Olympic Stadium. Britain’s European champion Laura Muir produced a national record of 3:54.50 with a strong finish to claim silver, with Hassan taking bronze in 3:55.86. “I am so happy.

It was something I didn’t really expect and I made it,” said Kipyegon. “It was a really fast race, I knew it will be going until the last lap. “To get the Olympic record is just amazing to me. I am so happy. I knew it would be a tough race being there with Sifan and Laura.

“Sifan is strong now and in good shape. I wanted to follow her and see what happened.” The Ethiopian-born Hassan, who won gold in Monday’s 5,000m, had also targeted the 1500m and 10,000m, scheduled to be run on Saturday. It meant that Hassan, formerly coached by the disgraced Alberto Salazar, has barely been off the track since her arrival in the Japanese capital.

She arguably produced one of the most memorable moments in these Games when she recovered from a fall in the 1500m heats in the morning session to get up and qualify before returning 12 hours later to win the 5,000m.