Two time world champion and 1500m record holder Faith Kipyegon produced a masterclass performance to break the 5000m world record providing the standout moments at a highly memorable Wanda Diamond League meeting in the French capital.
A week after breaking the 1500m world record in Florence, Kipyegon etched her name into the record books for 5000m, winning in 14:05.20.
Ahead of the race, the two time Olympic champion hadn’t made too much noise about a possible world record attempt in Friday’s 5000m. It was, after all, just her third ever race at the distance, and her first 5000m outing in eight years.
But, as is always the case with Kipyegon, the 29-year-old Kenyan showed no fear as she navigated her way through the race, the early pace – 2:52.31 at 1000m and 5:42.04 at 2000m – seemingly no bother for the two-time world U20 cross-country champion.
Steeplechase world record-holder Beatrice Chepkoech was the third and final pacemaker, leading the field through 3000m in 8:31.91. At this point, world record-holder Letesenbet Gidey led from Kipyegon with Ethiopia’s Ejgayehu Taye, the world 5km record-holder, a few strides behind.
She took the lead with about 600 metres to go, but Gidey kept close contact. They were about six seconds outside of world record pace, but Gidey also knew what Kipyegon is capable of. The world 10,000m champion knew that Kipyegon had the finishing speed to break Gidey’s world record.
Kipyegon – now speeding up with each and every stride – hit the bell in 13:04.1, needing a final lap of about 62 seconds to break Gidey’s record. She did exactly that, covering the last 400m in 61.1 seconds to cross the line in 14:05.20 – a 1.42-second improvement on Gidey’s mark.
In 800m,another Kenyan and former World Under-20 800m champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi staged a mouth-watering performance to set a new PB with 1:43.27 to become the fastest man in the world this year.
Fresh from retaining his Rabat Diamond League title on May 23, Wanyonyi refused to give up despite a five-man sprint to the finish line beating Marco Arop on the line as the Canadian ran 1:43.30 while Slimane Moula came through for third in 1:43.38.
In 100m race,Africa’s fastest man and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Ferdinand Omanyala finished second behind World 200 metres champion Noah Lyles.
Omanyala who went under 10 seconds for the first time since his Diamond League debut last month in Rabat failed to maintain his good run after clocking 9.98 seconds to emerge runner-up.
