Kenyan athlete Faith Kipyegon achieved an incredible feat at the Paris Diamond League meeting by breaking the world record in the women’s 5,000 metres on Friday night.
The new mark was achieved just one week after she set the world record in the 1,500 metres. Kipyegon, who is a two-time Olympic champion in the 1,500 metres, hadn’t competed in the 5,000 metres for eight years prior to this race.
Kipyegon pulled ahead of Letesenbet Gidey, the previous world record holder, in the final 400 metres and finally crossed the finish line in an impressive time of 14 minutes and 5.20 seconds, surpassing Gidey’s record of 14 minutes and 6.62 seconds set in 2020.
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Kenya President William Ruto led the country to celebrate Kipyegon’s latest success: “Tenacity, focus, hunger for excellence, and a winning mindset are the formula for greatness,” Ruto wrote on his social media pages, adding: “Faith Kipyegon has done it again. Another world record this time in the 5,000 metres.
“What an athlete! What an inspiration! What a champion! Congratulations, Kenya is immensely proud of you.”
During the 1500m women’s race at Florence Diamond League, Kipyegon shattered the mark with a 3:49.11 run. Meanwhile, African and Commonwealth Games 100m champion Ferdinand Omanyala finished second at the Paris Diamond League after finishing behind World 200m champion Noah Lyles.
Omanyala who went under 10 seconds for the first time since his Diamond League debut last month in Rabat failed to maintain his good run after clocking 9.98 seconds to finish second.