Fast Women: Faith Kipyegon and Beatrice Chebet inspire each other to world records
Winfred Yavi and Tsige Duguma also earn Prefontaine Classic wins.
Issue 358, sponsored by Omius
Faith Kipyegon lowers her 1500m world record to 3:48.68
What’s a better performance enhancer than having 13 strategically-placed pacers? Having Australia's Jessica Hull breathing down your neck.
Nine days after running a 4:06.91 mile in Nike’s Breaking4 project, Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon broke her own 1500m world record, running 3:48.68 at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, shaving 0.36 seconds off the time she ran a year ago.
Gone were the custom speedsuit and headband meant to make her more aerodynamic, and they were replaced by a standard racing kit, old-fashioned competition, and a stadium full of people. And while racing in the final event of the Prefontaine Classic still comes with plenty of pressure, for most, being part of the show is more fun than being the entire show.
Going out at a more manageable pace helps, too. During Breaking4, Kipyegon hit the 800m in 2:00.75. On Saturday, she followed pacer Sage Hurta-Klecker (who exited the race just past 900m) through 800m in 2:03.4, and was able to finish faster than she started. Kipyegon covered her final 400m in 59.1 and her last 200m in 28.8. (You can find all of the splits here.)
Despite the fact that she was running near world record pace, Kipyegon had company for the first 1200m of the race. Hull sat right on her, and Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji remained in close range as well. Going down the backstretch for the final time, the pace caught up to Hull and she began to fade, while Kipyegon accelerated. Welteji caught Hull coming off the final turn and took second in a 1.31-second PR of 3:51.44, while Hull, a former Oregon Duck, was third in a season’s best of 3:52.67.
At the finish, Kipyegon was greeted by a screaming Beatrice Chebet, who had broken the 5,000m world record earlier in the meet. Kipyegon later described Chebet as her best friend, and their joint celebration was one of the more heartwarming moments of the meet. “We inspire each other,” Kipyegon told reporters.
Last week, I wrote that Kipyegon’s previous 1500m record, 3:49.04, was her most impressive 1500m/mile performance to date, but this obviously surpasses that. And World Athletics’ scoring tables agree; they indicate that her 3:48.68 1500m is worth about 4:06.12 in the mile—faster than both her actual Breaking4 time (4:06.91) and her Nike-adjusted time (4:06.42). Last week, I also said that it was possible Kipyegon was in 4:09 mile shape and the drafting and speedsuit really did help her run faster than the world record. I was trying to give Nike the benefit of the doubt, but scratch that.
Kipyegon avoided talk of a world record heading into the meet. And it wouldn’t have been surprising if she wasn’t quite ready to run one on Saturday, given the emotional rollercoaster that was Breaking4. Plus running world records on command is tough. But the way she followed the pace lights from the gun made it clear that even if a record wasn’t necessarily the plan, it was certainly a goal. With each race, Kipyegon further solidifies her GOAT status.
No other woman has ever broken 3:50, but with Kipyegon leading the way, it’s only a matter of time. Welteji is only 23 years old, and her 3:51.44 moved her to eighth on the world all-time list. Hull was already fifth on the list with her 3:50.83 from last year. She began her year with some solid results in tactical races, but coming off an altitude training stint in Flagstaff, Hull looked the best she has all year.
“She's a champion in every aspect,” Hull said of Kipyegon after the race. “So it's just incredible to have someone at my side like that on the start line that I can really look up to in every capacity. She's amazing. It's incredible to see her starting to get the respect she deserves beyond the track and field fanatics—the world is starting to see what an incredible woman she is.”
A high-quality field trailed behind the lead trio, but by the halfway point, the chase pack was essentially running a separate race. Great Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell was the best of the rest, running 3:54.76, a season’s best and her second-fastest time ever.
The next two athletes across the line, Nikki Hiltz (fifth, 3:55.96) and Sinclaire Johnson (sixth, 3:56.93) also ran their second-fastest times ever, both less than a second away from their PRs. Both showed that they are in a good position less than a month out from the USATF Outdoor Championships.
The other Americans in the race were Emily Mackay (10th, 3:57.91), Heather MacLean (12th, 4:00.20), Shelby Houlihan (13th, 4:02.38), and Elise Cranny (14th, 4:03.31). After making mid-season coaching and training changes, Mackay and MacLean were each about two seconds off of their personal bests. And though she ran a season’s best, thus far, all signs seem to indicate that Houlihan might have the most success in the longer distances going forward. (1500m replay | All Prefontaine Classic results)
Thanks to Omius for supporting Fast Women this month
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Beatrice Chebet becomes the first woman to break 14:00 on the track
She was already the first (and only) woman to break 14:00 for 5K on the roads, and now Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet is the first woman to break 14:00 for 5,000m on the track as well. On Saturday, Chebet won the Prefontaine Classic 5,000m in a world record of 13:58.06. She took 2.15 seconds off of the previous record, set by Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay at Hayward Field in 2023.
Chebet first broke 14:00 on the final day of 2024, when she ran 13:54 at the Cursa dels Nassos 5K in Barcelona. Racing on the roads has its advantages. Male pacers are allowed, as are shoes with higher stack heights. But it seemed like it was only a matter of time before she repeated the feat on the track.
One of the most impressive things about Chebet’s record-setting run on Saturday was that she pulled it off despite the conditions. It was 75 degrees and sunny at race time, and aside from pacing help the first 2K, she led every step of the final 3K. But one thing Chebet did have on her side was good competition. I was impressed to see Tsegay and Kenya’s Agnes Ngetich right with Chebet with 200m to go. Though Tsegay previously held the world record in this event, when she raced Chebet in Rome a month ago, she finished 21 seconds back, so this was a nice turnaround for her.
To break 14:00 in the 5,000m, Chebet needed to run just under 2:48 per kilometer. With pacing help from Dorcus Ewoi and Klaudia Kazimierska, Chebet hit 1K in 2:47.5 and 2K in 5:35.5 (2:48 split). She was right on pace when Ewoi, the last pacer, stepped off the track at 2K. She hit 3K in 8:22.9 (2:47.4 split), and lost a little ground in the fourth kilometer, splitting 2:51.2, but she more than made up for it in the kick.
When she did kick, she flipped a switch and split 28.8 for her last 200m—the same as Kipyegon. In the end, perhaps the most impressive thing about Chebet’s run was how easy she made it look.
In her post-race interview with NBC, she teared up as she spoke about becoming the first woman to break 14:00. And in a different interview, she talked about Kipyegon inspiring her, and said she thinks a woman can break 13:50. I have no doubt, and she’s the one.
Going into this race, Ngetich’s best times had come on the roads. She was one of the distance stars of Grand Slam Track, but it had been two years since she had run a rabbited hard-from-the-gun 5,000m on the track. She passed Tsegay on the final turn and finished second in a 24-second PR of 14:01.29. (She had run 14:13 on the roads.) The performance moved her to third on the world all-time list.
While Chebet accelerated over the final 200m, Tsegay slowed, splitting 35 seconds. But she still managed to run 14:04.41, her second-fastest time ever. The race doubled as the Kenyan World Championships Trials, and led by Chebet and Ngetich, the Kenyan women will be the ones to beat in Tokyo.
Everyone else in the field was 25 seconds or more back. In fact, Chebet lapped three of her competitors in the homestretch. Weini Kelati, the lone American in the field, finished 10th in 14:38.15, which makes her the second-fastest American woman so far this year, behind Josette Andrews. Like many in the second pack, I imagine Kelati would have benefitted from more tailored-to-her pacing. Her kilometer splits—2:49.2, 2:54.1, 2:57, 3:01.2, and 2:56.7—weren’t bad, but 5Ks tend to hurt less when you save the fastest splits for the end. (5,000m highlights)
Winfred Yavi returns to the top
The Prefontaine Classic almost saw a third world record fall in the women’s distance events, with Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi winning the steeplechase in 8:45.25. At the end of last season, Yavi missed Beatrice Chepkoech’s 8:44.32 world record by 0.07 seconds, and on Saturday, she finished just 0.93 seconds off of the record. She now has the second- and third-fastest times ever run in this event.
Kenya’s Faith Cherotich was a slight favorite heading into this race, after beating Yavi in their last two races. But Yavi made a big move with 600m to go and reminded everyone why she’s the reigning World and Olympic champion. Cherotich also had a good race, taking 4.66 seconds off of her PR and finishing second in 8:48.71. And Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai (third, 8:51.77) was also in the mix.
Gabbi Jennings was the top American in the race; she took 1.09 seconds off of her PR and finished sixth in 9:06.61. Kaylee Mitchell PRed by 5.39 seconds and finished eighth in 9:08.66. And Lexy Halladay-Lowry was right behind her, placing ninth in 9:09.47. Val Constien (12th, 9:16.57), Olivia Markezich (13th, 9:17.95), and Courtney Wayment (16th, 9:25.86) were also in the race. The results never tell the full story; Wayment ran most of the race with one shoe, and hopefully she can recover in time for the USATF Outdoor Championships.
The top steeplechasers tend to race each other more often because there are only so many high-level races, but this sets up an intriguing matchup at USAs. Here’s the U.S. performance list so far this year:
Gabbi Jennings 9:06.61
Kaylee Mitchell 9:08.66
Lexy Halladay-Lowry 9:08.68
Courtney Wayment 9:08.88
Angelina Napoleon 9:10.72
And though Constien hasn’t yet approached the 9:03.22 she ran last year, her times are coming down. There could be any number of runners in the mix.
Krissy Gear was also in the race, but as a pacer. She was doing exactly what she was supposed to do, staying on the lights, but about 600m in, Chemutai decided she wanted to go faster, so she went past Gear, as did the rest of the lead pack. Gear stayed in the race for at least two more laps. If nothing else, hopefully she got a good workout out of it and she got to watch some great races.
Tsige Duguma remains the woman to beat in the 800m
Aside from the 800m final at the World Athletics Indoor Championships, where she went out hard and suffered, Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma is undefeated in the 800m so far this year. At Saturday’s Prefontaine Classic, Duguma fought off a challenge from South Africa’s Prudence Sekgodiso, the World Indoor champion, to win, 1:57.10 to 1:57.16. Uganda’s Halimah Nakaayi took third in a season’s best of 1:57.89.
Two of the stars of recent years, Kenya’s Mary Moraa and Athing Mu-Nikolayev, finished ninth and 10th out of 10 competitors. Mu-Nikolayev ran 2:03.44 and ran tentatively in her first highly competitive 800m since last summer’s Olympic Trials, where she fell and missed making the Olympic team. She was clearly unhappy with the race, telling Tiara Williams, “That right there is not what I can do.”
She also said that ideally she would have made her return to the event in a lower-key meet, but so many of the events scheduled to take place this season have been canceled. It sounds like she’s now hoping to get in some more races between now and the USATF Championships, so it will be interesting to see if she gets added to any fields in the coming weeks.
Scott Reid wrote a good piece on Mu-Nikolayev that was published in The Orange County Register last week. She’s working on regaining her love for the sport, and Saturday’s race was a bit of a setback. Despite her disappointment, she signed autographs and stuck around to talk to the media after the race. Struggle is unavoidable in track & field, especially at the highest levels, and Mu-Nikolayev is so good that she’s had to do a lot of her struggling while in the public eye.
If she needs any reassurance that it’s possible to overcome one’s challenges in this event, she can draw inspiration from Raevyn Rogers’ race on Saturday. After starting her season out with a 2:05 in April, Rogers, 28, ran 1:58.49 to finish sixth. It was her fastest time since the 2023 World Championships. Similarly, Ajee Wilson, 31, recently ran 1:58.76, her fastest time in two years. Mu only just turned 23. If she had spent five years in the NCAA, she would just be graduating now.
Many of the top 800m runners in the U.S. are currently dealing with one thing or another, so it’s going to be really interesting to see how this event shakes out at the USATF Outdoor Championships. Here’s the U.S. performance list so far this year:
1. Addy Wiley 1:57.55
2. Michaela Rose 1:58.12
3. Roisin Willis 1:58.13
4. Nikki Hiltz 1:58.23
5. Raevyn Rogers 1:58.49
6. Ajee’ Wilson 1:58.76
7. Meghan Hunter 1:58.95
8. Makayla Paige 1:58.97
9. Sage Hurta-Klecker 1:59.02
10. Nia Akins 1:59.06
Four of the eight runners who have broken 1:59 are coming off the college season. Rose rabbited yesterday’s race, and then announced afterward that she has signed a pro deal with Adidas. (800m replay)
Other News
Ireland’s Ciara Mageean, 33, who won the European 1500m title last summer and has been one of the world’s top middle-distance runners for years, shared the heart-wrenching news last week that she has been diagnosed with cancer. She has already started treatment, and she has asked for people to respect her privacy. No further details have been released.
Rich Perelman of The Sports Examiner reported that USATF has sued its former board chair, Olympic triple jump gold medalist Mike Conley, for breach of fiduciary duty. Among other things, they have accused him of coordinating and colluding with former USATF staff member and board member Jim Estes, who was involved with Chattanooga’s bid to host the 2024 Olympic Marathon Trials. Becca Peter has posted the full complaint here, and pointed out this is not the time USATF has sued its own volunteers.
Heptathlete Taliyah Brooks is still dealing with her lawsuit against USATF, which stems from the 2021 Olympic T&F Trials. She provided an update last week.
It’s common for it to take time for prize money to be paid out in track & field, but according to The Times, Grand Slam Track is taking long enough to pay its athletes that some athletes and their agents are concerned. Last week, GST’s Kyle Merber sent an email to agents indicating that they plan to pay athletes for the Kingston Slam by the end of July, and the remaining payments, including appearance fees for the canceled Los Angeles Slam, should be in athletes’ hands by the end of September. Front Office Sports reported that the league still owes athletes about $13 million.
Oregon graduate Klaudia Kazimierska, who represents Poland, announced that she has signed with Nike and she will stick with her college coaches, presumably as part of the Eugene hub of the Swoosh TC (the group formerly known as the Bowerman Track Club).
Hedda Hynne, Norway’s 800m record holder, announced her retirement from professional track & field last week.
In a series of Instagram stories last week, Krissy Gear wrote that sometimes she feels like she’s wasting her time pursuing running, and she feels like she could have a greater impact elsewhere. She mentioned that with the hope of making a difference as a runner, she donates a significant amount of her prize money each year to causes that are important to her. She wrote that she promised herself she would donate any money she earned from the USATF 1 Mile Road Championships. She earned $10,000 for winning the race, plus a $5,000 bonus for breaking the American record.
In light of the Boston Marathon’s new rules regarding qualifying via downhill races, Utah Valley Marathon organizers announced last week that they’ve made a change to their course for 2026. The race will now have a net elevation loss of 1,444 feet, just under the 1,500 foot threshold, so times will not need to be adjusted. I imagine there will be more such announcements to come.
Additional Results
Switzerland’s Joceline Wind PRed by 3.45 seconds and ran 4:01.59 to win the 1500m at France’s Meeting Stanislas Nancy. She wrote in an Instagram post that she planned to build up to certain goals “over the upcoming years, and I never imagined things would snap into place so quickly this year already.” Ethiopia’s Nigist Getachew won the 800m in 1:58.15. (Results)
Italy’s Marta Zenoni won the 1500m at Poland’s Czesław Cybulski Memorial in 4:02.10. And because I noticed her excitement in my Instagram feed, I have to shout out Canada’s Kate Current, who took second in 4:03.06 and wrote in an Instagram story, “4:03!! About f*cking time.” She took 3.57 seconds off of her previous PR. Poland’s Kinga Królik won the 2,000m steeplechase in 6:03.75. (Results)
Lithuania’s Gabija Galvydyte won the 1500m at Sweden’s Folksam Grand Prix Karlstad in 4:05.05. And Jana Van Lent won the 5,000m in a Belgian record of 14:58.68. (Results)
Great Britain’s Laura Muir opened her outdoor season with a 2:03.41 800m, taking fifth at the Boysen Memorial meet in Oslo. (Results)
According Great Britain’s Clare Elms, 61, who ran 4:59.11 for 1500m last week, she is now the oldest ever woman to break 5:00 in the 1500m.
Fourth of July Results
Before diving into the results of any Independence Day races, I want to provide some context and acknowledge that on the Fourth of July, the U.S. president signed a bill into law that will slash billions of dollars in federal funding for health care and SNAP (food benefits for low-income families) in favor of tax cuts for the wealthy and a dramatic and unprecedented expansion of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). I definitely don’t speak for all of us, but for this and other reasons, many Americans are feeling there’s less to celebrate this year.
This isn’t directly running-related, but eventually, this bill will negatively affect many of the people I write about. I appreciated Gabi Rooker, physician assistant and 2:24 marathoner, speaking up last week about the ways in which the bill will affect her patients.
Hellen Obiri won Atlanta’s Peachtree Road Race, covering the 10K course in 31:29, and finishing just ahead of Ethiopia’s Senayet Getachew (31:30). Natosha Rogers was the top American finisher, taking seventh in 32:26. Susanna Sullivan (12th, 33:02) and Tristin Colley (15th, 33:34) were also in the pro field. Susannah Scaroni earned her fourth-consecutive and fifth overall win in the wheelchair division, covering the course in 21:26. Tatyana McFadden took second in 23:32 and then made it to Eugene in time to earn a dramatic win in the T54 800m at the Prefontaine Classic the following day. (Results)
Emily Venters won the Freedom Run 5K in Provo, Utah, running an impressive 15:19 at altitude. Keira D’Amato won the 10K in 32:44 and Makenna Myler was second in 33:17. (Results)
Felicia Pasadyn won the Medina (OH) Twin Sizzler 5K and 10K. First she ran 15:52 for 5K, then she doubled back with a 34:07 10K win. (Results)
Jenn Randall won the Butte to Butte 5K in Eugene, Oregon, in 16:00, and Melissa Berry won the 10K in 34:55. (Results)
Katie Izzo won the Team Flagstaff Downtown Mile in 4:46.
Rachael Rudel won the FireKracker 5K in Fort Collins, Colorado, in 16:20. Jessica Gockley-Day took second in 16:28.
Jessie Cardin won the WTOL River Run 10K in Toledo, Ohio, running 33:11.
Ryen Frazier won the Rotary Club of Kernersville (NC) 4th of July 5K in 16:43.
Rachel Schilkowsky won the Fourth of July Freedom Four Miler in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, running 21:57. (Results)
Megan O’Neil and Anna Vess went 1–2 at the Clawson (MI) Firecracker Mile, both running 4:48. Third-place finisher Dot McMahan, 48, narrowly held off her daughter, El McMahan, 16, 4:52.77 to 4:53.85. (Results)
Podcast Highlights
It was good to hear from Grayson Murphy on Women of Distance. She talked about how she changed her training following her Crohn’s disease diagnosis and said that in the 12 weeks leading up to her fifth-place finish in the 46K at Broken Arrow, she averaged 35 miles per week and didn’t do any hard workouts. She said she ran the race in part because she really wanted to run a marathon before she turned 30. And it was interesting to hear her say that if she gets selected for the 45K team for the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships, she might run that instead of the classic mountain race, where she’s the defending champion.
Calli Hauger-Thackery was entertaining on the Run With It podcast. She told some good stories about her father’s training back in the day and her last-ditch qualifier for the Commonwealth Games in 2022.
I appreciated hearing more about Gabriela DeBues-Stafford’s road back to the top of the running world on The Shakeout Podcast. “One of my competitors asked me, ‘Did you just have this insane self belief that you weren’t done?’ I was like ‘No, absolutely not. I thought I was done like 70 percent of the time,’” she said.
I enjoyed hearing Kim Conley reflect back on her professional running career on The Lane 9 Podcast
Jordan (Hasay) Hogan was on the Ali on the Run Show last week, and it was good to get an update from her 35 weeks into her pregnancy.
Runner and immigration lawyer Carolina Rubio MacWright and Vanesa Chavarriaga have started a podcast called Mangonada, which they describe as “a culturally responsive podcast on all things Latinidad, immigrant joy and resistance, and outdoor sports.” I enjoyed their June 2 episode titled, “This is joy with resistance in every step.”
Even though it’s an event I will never attend, I enjoyed hearing Leah Yingling, Hilary Yang, and Rachel Drake discuss their experiences following and supporting runners at the Western States 100 on The Trail Network Podcast. I was particularly interested in hearing about the challenges that have arisen as the race has become more popular.
On Breakfast with Boz Presented by Wahoo, Elle St. Pierre said that she already feels like she’s back into better running form than she was at this stage with her first child.
I was a guest on Trials of Miles’ The Directors podcast last week. We discussed the state of running media, Breaking4, Athlos, and much more. I think I threw a couple hot takes in there that I didn’t back up very well. If you listen, you’ll see why I prefer communicating via writing!
Additional Episodes: Sarah (Cummings) Jones discussed her move to the trails on Women of Distance | Georgia Hunter Bell on Untapped | Paityn Noe on The Running Effect
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I hope you all have the best week possible.
Alison