Faith Kipyegon set to double in Budapest World Championships

1500m and 5000m World record holder Faith Kipyegon is set to do the double in the upcoming 2023 Budapest World Championships that will take place from 10 to 27 August.

This is after the Double Olympic and World champion was listed in both races in the final entry list released by World Athletics on Thursday evening.

Kipyegon, who is fresh from having her two World records ratified, had already booked her ticket in the 1500m race in Budapest courtesy of being the Diamond League champion.

And in a bid to qualify for the 5000m race, she then competed in the Kenyan trials for the World Championships where she clocked 14:05.02 to win the race ahead of 2017 World Cross Country bronze medalist Lilian Kasait who timed 14:23.05 and the 2019 world silver medalist over the distance Margaret Kipkemboi who stopped the clock in 15:07.49 to make the cut.

Afterwards, the 29-year-old revealed a possibility of doubling in the two events but was still non-committal.

"I was targeting to run good times in the trials and I am looking forward to the World Championships where I want to defend my title. That is my biggest target in the season. I had a number of targets in the season including breaking the records.

My major target is to double in the 2024 Olympics but I might also go for double glory in Budapest," she stated back then.

Kipyegon will be heading to the prestigious competition in the form of her life having achieved three world records since June and two of those marks – in the women’s 1500m and 5000m – are now officially in the record books with her women’s mile record set in Monaco on 21 July pending ratification.

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The first of Kipyegon’s world records was set at the Golden Gala, a Wanda Diamond League meeting, in Florence on 2 June.

On that occasion, the 29-year-old ran 3:49.11 to break the women’s world 1500m record of 3:50.07 that had been set by Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba in Monaco on 17 July 2015.

Just one week later she raced at the Meeting de Paris, also a Wanda Diamond League event, on 9 June and stepped up to the 5000m.

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While her original aim might not have been the world record of 14:06.62 set by Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey in Valencia on 7 October 2020, Kipyegon still broke it, running 14:05.20 in just her third ever race at the distance.

On 21 July, at the Stade Louis II stadium where she lined up for the Monaco Diamond League, Kipyegon obliterated the 1 mile record by almost five seconds as she clocked 4:07.64 to break Sifan Hassan’s 4:12.33 set at the same venue in 2019.

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