.jpg)
Faith Kipyegon shares holiday plans with family after successful season
.jpg)
Reading Time: 3min | Mon. 16.09.24. | 11:40
The 30-year-old was glad that the upcoming holiday offers her the perfect opportunity to reconnect and bond with them
The curtains of the 2024 Diamond League season rolled down on Saturday 14 September at the Memorial Van Damme in Brussels, Belgium.
World and Olympic 1,500m champion Faith Kipyegon was one of the stars who shone brightest. The Stargirl retained her 1500m title despite tough competition from Ethiopia's Diribe Welteji.
The 30-year-old won in a new meeting record of 3:54.75 with Australia's Jessica Hull completing the podium.
With a third Olympic gold and a fifth Diamond League crown safely in her possession, the world might assume she’s ready for a well-earned rest. But the world record holder is not done just yet.
In a post-race interview, Kipyegon noted that she has now shifted focus to the Alex Ohanian’s women-only event, Athlos, scheduled for Thursday 26 September.
The three-time Olympic champion will be out to prove her mettle and is hoping to bag the hefty prize money of $60,000 for the winners with the second-place and third-place finishers set to walk away with $25,000, and $10,000 respectively.
After the Athlos race, she will now relax and recharge.
“I have not finished my season yet. I still have one more race in New York; the Athlos race. That is where I will finish my season before going on a holiday. I will put down the spikes and not even look at them,” she started.
Kipyegon has often expressed her deep love and appreciation for her family, especially her husband and their daughter, Lynn. She was glad that the upcoming holiday offers her the perfect opportunity to reconnect and bond with them.
“I will stay with my family; my daughter Lynn and my husband, and at least give them time. All they have been telling me is ‘goodbye mum’, and ‘welcome home mum’. We will at least go for a holiday. Although my daughter is in school, we will hopefully have some time off,” she offered.
She started her season with an injury setback that saw her miss the Diamond League Meeting in Xiamen and the Prefontaine Classic.
After shaking off the injury, Kipyegon graced the Paris Olympics qualifiers in June, where she qualified for both the 1,500m and 5,000m categories.
Kipyegon warmed up for the Olympics with the Paris Diamond League where she set a new record by clocking a time of 3:49:04, eclipsing her previous record by 0.07 seconds.
At the Olympics, she won a historic third 1,500m title and took home silver in the 5,000m event.
Following that, she graced the Rome Diamond League, where she brushed aside Australia’s Jessica Hull to sprint home for a 3:52.89 finish.
Her fine form continued during the Brussels Diamond League where she won her fifth trophy after clocking 3:54:75 to set a new meeting record.
“The season has been fine so far. Winning the third Olympic medal, finishing the season well by winning my fifth trophy in Brussels. Everything has been amazing, and I hope to finish my season in Athlos well,” she said.
It is now a matter of wait-and-see as Kenyans anticipate another major performance from the superstar.
.jpg)
