Defending champion Faith Kipyegon is getting ready for the World Championships Tokyo25 with even loftier dreams.
Kipyegon, an imposing figure at the World Championships, will be defending the 1500m and 5000m titles from the 2023 event in Budapest, Hungary.
If everything falls into place on the Road to Tokyo, Kipyegon will bring home her fourth title in the 1500m and second gold medal in 5000m, cumulatively securing six World Championship victories.
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So far, an indefatigable Kipyegon, known within athletics circles as the Smiling Destroyer (perhaps of record), says her race to Tokyo has been a smooth ride.
And her dreams for the season, among them successful defence of the two titles and setting another record mark in 1500m, are valid, she believes.
“The season has been so good. It has been a beautiful journey towards Tokyo, starting with 1000m in Siemen and going to Breaking4 and running a fabulous race in Paris and going to Eugene for the world record,” Kipyegon said.
On July 22, she was named in Team Kenya for the Tokyo World Championships set for September 13-21 during the national trials in Nairobi. She did not compete because she already had a ticket as the defending champion.
Kipyegon says she will be propelled by self-belief when she anchors compatriots in the medal hunt in Tokyo.
“The target now is to train healthily. I am praying to stay healthy and injury-free towards Tokyo because I am going to double 1500m and 5000m,” she says.
She goes on to say: “I feel good to run with the strong teams in 1500m which include Nelly Chepchirchir and Susan Ejore in 1500m and Beatrice Chebet and Agnes Ngetich in 5000m.”
Earlier in July, Kipyegon rewrote the record books after breaking her own 1500m world record, setting the new mark at 3:48.68, but she is not stopping there even as she prepares for Tokyo World Championships.
During the Diamond League meet in Eugene (Prefontaine Classic), Kipyegon, alongside Beatrice Chebet, shattered world records, with the latter smashing the 5000m fastest time previously held by Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay.
“I think there is still room for improvement and to run under 3:48 in 1500m. I keep on pushing the world record towards faster times,” Kipyegon said moments after she was named in team Kenya.
On June 26, the three-time Olympic champion earned praise for her attempt to run sub-four minutes in the mile.
Although she missed the under-four-minute mark by 6.41 seconds during the Nike Breaking4, the athletics world still celebrated the star for daring to attempt what has for decades been perceived to be impossible and for chipping a second off her 4:07.64 world record from 2023.
Kipyegon, who ran a well-measured race, with the help of pacesetters and new Nike technologies to boot, was on a mission to engrave her name in the annals of history as the first woman ever to run a mile under four minutes.
And during the Thursday night attempt in Paris, she unleashed her super speed but deferred her ambition of a sub-four in the mile after falling short of achieving the target.
Kenyans trooped to nightclubs for watch parties as the world’s attention shifted to the iconic Stade Charlety in Paris, France, where Kipyegon smashed her own 1500m world record last July.
“Breaking the world record was special. I was not expecting to break my own record at the Prefontaine Classic, but I believed in myself that if I crossed 3:49 when I was attempting the four-minute barrier in the mile, I think I am still capable of running 3:48 in 1500m,” says Kipyegon.