KIPYEGON DENIES HASSAN’S TREBLE DREAM, RETAINS 1,500M GOLD

TOKYO: Kenyan Faith Kipyegon retained her title in the women’s 1,500 metres on Friday as she denied Dutch Sifan Hassan her dream of winning an unprecedented Olympic treble.

Hassan had to settle for bronze as Britain’s Laura Muir took silver. It was a fast race as Hassan moved to the front with Kipyegon right behind her. But the Kenyan accelerated to grab the lead on the last lap and won in an Olympic record time of 3:53.11. Hassan came into the race as the newly-crowned 5,000m Olympic champion, a first of what she had hoped would be a hat-trick of golds. She also plans to compete in the 10,000m on Saturday.

Hassan led for most of the race but Kipyegon stayed right with her, never allowing the Dutchwoman to widen the lead.

As they came towards the penultimate bend, they were running almost shoulder to shoulder. Kipyegon soon found another gear, streaked past her rival and never looked back.

As the race entered its last stretch, Hassan began to fade and that opened the door for Muir who pushed past her to finish second with a time of 3:54.50, a national record.

With that win, Kipyegon, 27, continues her impressive run in major finals. She has either won or finished second at every major 1,500m championship final she has competed in since 2015. This win was particularly astonishing as it came after she had taken nearly two years off for the birth of her daughter before coming back for the world championships in Doha in 2019 where she won silver behind Hassan.

“I am so happy. It was something I didn’t really expect and I made it thank god. I am really happy,” she said. “It was a really fast race, I knew it would be going until the last lap. They are all strong. But I am so happy to have set the Olympic record.”