Nearly nine months after missing out on the 1,500m world record by 0.3 seconds, Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon buried the ghost of past disappointments with an emphatic performance at the Florence Diamond League meeting on Friday.
In Monaco last year, double Olympic and world 1,500m champion Kipyegon came agonizingly close to breaking Genzebe Dibaba’s mark of 3 minutes, 50.07 seconds set in 2015 as she crossed the line in 3 minutes, 50.37 seconds.
Kipyegon’s narrow miss left her dejected, with the 29-year-old telling Olympics.com: “After the finish line, I thought I got the world record. That’s why I went down and slept a little bit, knowing that I got it, but later I saw the screen and it was really disappointing.”
Photo: Reuters
However, on Friday, Kipyegon did not let up, doggedly continuing on long after she had left her rivals in the dust to cross the line in 3 minutes, 49.11 seconds — almost an entire second faster than Dibaba’s record.
“When I crossed the finish line, I knew I broke the world record because I had a good finish and felt very strong at the end. I knew everything was possible,” Kipyegon said after her remarkable run on Friday.
The Kenyan remained behind the pacemakers for the first half of the race before running clear in the final 300m to finish well ahead of Britain’s Laura Muir and Australian Jessica Hull.
“After 1,000[m], when the pacemaker went out, I just pushed myself towards the finish line. And that was what my manager told me — anything is possible — after the pacemaker, just run your race,” Kipyegon said.
The world record completes Kipyegon’s collection of achievements, adding to her two Olympic 1,500m golds and world titles in 2017 and last year, a Commonwealth Games gold medal from 2014 and three Diamond League titles.
“This was really important because this was something I was still missing in my career,” Kipyegon added. “Getting this, it will really motivate me and I left the legacy for the next generation — they can say she broke the world record, she was the Olympic and the world champion. It was amazing tonight.”
The New Taipei Kings claimed the inaugural Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) championship on Sunday, defeating the Kaohsiung FamilyMart Aquas 108-89 in the final. Playing at home, the Kings pulled ahead with Jeremy Lin’s (林書豪) clutch three-pointers, securing their victory over the Aquas in the TPBL final. The Kings came out strong in the first quarter, dominating to build a 35-18 lead. By halftime, they had stretched their advantage to 61-38. In the third quarter, the Aquas narrowed the deficit to 12 points, but Lin stepped up, sinking several tough three- pointers to extend the lead. In the final quarter, the Kings pushed the
In an unlikely Ethiopian outpost of one the most French of pastimes, four men are leaning over their petanque balls, arguing over who is winning. Petanque, the bowling game also known as boules, is more readily associated with French village squares where locals launch metal balls at a jack while enjoying an afternoon drink, but for decades, it has also been a beloved pastime for members of a club near the iconic Meskel Square in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. It was founded in the early 20th century to cater to French railway workers, who built a line connecting Addis Ababa
Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Australian teenager Maya Joint on Tuesday eased into the Eastbourne Open quarter-finals in England as Hsieh prepares for the Wimbledon Championships next week. Four-time Wimbledon women’s doubles champion Hsieh and 19-year-old Joint fired two aces and converted five of eight break points to defeat Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Poland’s Katarzyna Piter 6-3, 6-3 in 58 minutes on the grass court. Hsieh and Joint are today to face fourth seeds Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, who advanced on Monday with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Quinn Gleason of the US and
BEAT THE HEAT: A brutal heat wave in the US has made cooling breaks standard. Dortmund’s coach said the weather could shape the destiny of the tournament Chelsea on Tuesday beat Esperance of Tunisia 3-0 to set up a FIFA Club World Cup last-16 tie against SL Benfica, who earlier defeated Bayern Munich 1-0, as furnace-link heat and the threat of thunder and lightning wreak havoc at the tournament. Elsewhere, minnows Auckland City claimed a memorable draw against Boca Juniors, while Los Angeles bowed out of the tournament with a stalemate against Flamengo. In Charlotte, Andreas Schjelderup scored the only goal for Benfica in their Group C clash with Bayern in front of 33,287 fans, finishing first-time from a cutback by his fellow Norwegian Fredrik Aursnes in the 13th
RSS