Kenya’s Kipyegon & Chebet smash Diamond League world records
Kenyan runners Faith Kipyegon and Beatrice Chebet delivered record-breaking performances at the Diamond League meeting in Eugene, Oregon, in the United States, turning the Prefontaine Classic into a showcase of world-class athletics.
Kipyegon blazed through the women’s 1500 meters in 3:48.68, slicing 0.36 seconds off her own world record. The triumph comes just a week after the 31-year-old triple Olympic champion narrowly missed becoming the first woman to run a sub-four-minute mile.
Her countrywoman, Chebet made history in the women’s 5,000 meters, clocking 13:58.06 and breaking the previous world record held by Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay, also set in Eugene, by more than two seconds. Chebet, 25, now reigns as the world and Olympic champion in both the 5,000m and 10,000m.
“When I came to Eugene, my goal was to break the world record,” she said. “I’m so happy.”
The meet featured 17 Olympic champions from Paris and 14 current world-record holders, making it one of the most elite gatherings in track and field this year.
Among the top performances, Britain’s Matt Hudson-Smith clocked a season’s best 44.10 to win the men’s 400m, beating Americans Christopher Bailey and Jacory Patterson. Fellow Briton Zharnel Hughes finished second in the men’s 100m with a time of 9.91, trailing Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson, who took gold in 9.85.
In the women’s 800m, Jemma Reekie equalled her season-best 1:58.66 to place seventh. Paris gold medallist Keely Hodgkinson was absent due to a delayed return from a hamstring injury. Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma claimed the win in 1:57.10.
Dina Asher-Smith placed seventh in the women’s 100m, where American Melissa Jefferson-Wooden stormed to victory in 10.75, ahead of Olympic champion Julien Alfred.
In the Bowerman Mile, Dutch runner Niels Laros stunned the field, overtaking American Yared Nuguse in the final meters to win by 0.01 seconds. Brits Jake Wightman and Neil Gourley finished eighth and 12th, respectively.
Elsewhere, Sweden’s Armand Duplantis cleared 6.00m to win the men’s pole vault, while Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone equalled her season’s best of 49.43 to win the women’s 400m ahead of fellow Americans Aaliyah Butler and Isabella Whittaker. Ireland’s Rhasidat Adeleke placed fourth.
The Diamond League continues in Monaco before heading to a sold-out meet in London on July 19. The series concludes with finals in Zurich on August 27–28, just weeks ahead of the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan.
Written by Kweku Sampson
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