Inside the support squad pushing Kipyegon in her 'Breaking4' quest
Reading Time: 2min | Wed. 25.06.25. | 21:07
Eliud Kipchoge, who is her training partner, and had a similar feat with his Breaking2, is one of the athletes expected at the finish line
Three-time Olympic 1500m star and World Record holder Faith Kipyegon will on Thursday, 26 June attempt to become the first woman in history to run a mile in under four minutes.
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The 'Breaking4' challenge, for which Nike has left nothing to chance, from the formation of the hares to the colours of the track, attempts to go way below her current mark of 4:07.64 which she set in 2023.
With Kipyegon are some of the world's most prominent Nike athletes, already in Paris, to help the Kenyan cut through the air resistance and set the pace .
The lineup is daunting, with Olympic and World medalists led by American Grant Fisher, the world record holder in the short track 3000m and 5000m who won bronze in the 10,000m and 5,000m at the Paris Olympics, becoming the first American to medal in both events at the Games.
Also joining the 12:44 runner in 5,000m, Fisher, are Cooper Teare (12:54 in 5000m), Craig Engels (3:51.60 in the mile), Australian Stewart McSweyn (a 3:48.37 miller), Dutchmen Niels Laros (3:29 in 3,000m) and Stefan Nillessen (3:29 in 1,500m), Irishman Cathal Doyle (3:53 in the mile), Briton Elliot Giles (3:49.16 in the mile) will line up to pace the Kenyan in her audacious quest.
Meanwhile, two-time Commonwealth Games 800m champion, Wycliffe Kinyamal who carries a 1:42 PB in the 800m from last year is the only Kenyan on the pavers list.
Kipyegon is expected to have a mix of male and female pacers, with Paris Olympics bronze medalist Georgia Hunter Bell leading the two women.
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The British athlete brings a 4:23.35 PB in the mile to the race with former World Champion, Ugandan Halimah Nakaayi who is a 1:57 runner 800m runner and last raced the mile in 2016 for 4:50.53, completing the list.
Five athletes will line up in front of Kipyegon at the mile start line and fan out over the first four lanes, with one setting the pace in lane one and the rest fanning out from the outside to the inside to cut through the headwinds all around.
Six more athletes will run behind her, also in a formation that will block any wind that may come from behind and to her right.
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After the first two laps, three pacemakers will drop out, one of them the one running ahead in the outermost lane, as he will be more tired from covering more metres.
With one lap to go, there will be another drop out and Kipyegon will complete the final 400 metres with three pacemakers ahead of her.
