Budapest23: Majestic Faith Kipyegon delivers Kenya's first gold
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Reading Time: 2min | Tue. 22.08.23. | 22:50
This was Kipyegon's third gold at the World Athletics Championships having triumphed at the world stage in 2017 and 2022
"To defeat Faith Kipyegon in the current state, she would have to make a big mistake." These were the words of the commentators at the World Athletics Championships moments before the greatest athlete over the 1500m distance Faith Kipyegon took to the track.
As Kenyans expected, the world had the same expectations. And Faith Kipyegon delivered as usual, leading from gun to tape to win Kenya the first gold medal at the ongoing World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Kipyegon came into the race in fine form, just over two months after obliterating the World Record over the distance, and she clocked 3:54.87 to finish ahead of Ethiopia's Diribe Weltije and Sifan Hassan of Netherlands who timed 3:55.69 and 3:56.00 respectively.
Even amid Kipyegon's limelight, compatriot Nelly Chepchirchir finished fifth but set a Personal Best (PB) of 3:57.90 despite withering off in the last lap of the race.
Commonwealth Games champion Abraham Kibiwott overcame a heavy fall with a lap left to go to finish third in the men's 3000m steeplechase and add Kenya's medal tally at the championships to three.
Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali floored the world record holder Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia, stopping the clock at 8:03.53 to retain the title.
Leonard Bett finished fourth, and second of the three Kenyans, with Simon Koech settling for a seventh-place finish.
In an earlier race, Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Alex Ngeno Kipngetich booked their slots in the semis of the men's 800m after finishing first in their respective matches.
While Wanyonyi clocked the fastest time of 1:44.92 to qualify for the semis, Ngeno finished first in the slowest heat after stopping the clock at 1:47.63.
2019 bronze medalist over the distance Ferguson Rotich looked like a shadow of his former self as struggled to clock 1:46.53, finishing fourth in heat four and missing out on both the automatic qualification as well as in the three fastest runners-up.
It was the same case for the defending champion Emmanuel Korir who finished fourth in heat five with an even slower time to miss out on the semis.
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