Faith Kipyegon wins women’s 1,500 at World Athletics Championships

Faith Kipyegon ran away with the women's 1,500 meters in the World Athletics Championship at the Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, US.

photo credit: news18

The 28 year-old Kenyan stamped her authority on the women?s 1,500m final almost from the start and drove on relentlessly to take her second world gold in three minutes, 52.96 seconds.

That combined with her two Olympic golds, separated by a 22-month maternity leave from competition (that included 12 months without running), makes her the first woman to win four global 1500m titles.

Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay and Briton Laura Muir, who matched Kipyegon stride for lung-busting stride until the last 300m, took silver and bronze.

photo credit: world-track.org

"I had pressure because everybody was expecting really special things for me. Everybody was like, "We have faith," ?We believe in Faith."" said Faith Kipyegon in a post-race interview.

In 2015, Jenny Simpson, arguably the greatest U.S. female miler in history, slapped a label on the then budding runner from Kenya. "I call her the sniper," Simpson said then, three months after the then-21-year-old Kipyegon won her first global 1500m medal, silver at the 2015 World Championships. "She won?t go out and run hard from the gun, but she can run people down..."

source: nbcsports, reuters, oregonlive, olympics.com