L. MathekaOREGON22: Golden girl Faith Kipyegon hunting gold medal in favored 1500m
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Reading Time: 3min | Mon. 18.07.22. | 15:35
Defending champion Sifan Hassan elected not to defend her title, settling for 10,000m and 5,000m. She missed out on a medal in the former.
Two-time 1500m Olympic champion and 2017 world champion Faith Kipyegon carries Kenya’s hopes for gold in on the fourth day of the World Athletics championships ongoing in Oregon.
Kipyegon heads to the final set for Tuesday 19 July at 5:50 am (19:50 hrs in Oregon) as the clear favourite given a stellar performance since being denied the world title by Sifan Hassan in 2019.
Faith Kipyegon's first World Title was in 2017, London https://t.co/zHhMPIvAaQ
— Oba (@Kiarago_Migwi) July 18, 2022
The Olympic champion will be joined in the race by the African champion Winny Chebet who barely made it through to the final as one of the non-automatic qualifiers and will be hoping to correct her mistakes for a medal.
The two Kenyans, however, face stiff competition from the world indoor 1500m record-holder Gudaf Tsegay who will be hoping to bring the gold medal in this event back to Ethiopia for just the second time in the event’s history following Genzebe Dibaba’s victory in 2015.
She was a dominant winner of the 1500m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade earlier this year and proved her endurance is in good order with a runner-up finish in Oslo last month over 5000m in 14:26.69. She will be joined by a pair of strong compatriots in 21-year-olds Hirut Meshesa and Freweyni Hailu.
They followed her home in Belgrade as Ethiopia swept the medal rostrum, with Hailu second and Meshesha third. Hailu, who was fourth in the Olympic final in Tokyo, clocked a season’s best of 3:58.18 to finish second in Rabat last month, where Meshesha took victory in 3:57.30, with Meshesha backing that up with victory in Rome in a cagey race in 4:03.79.
Hopes will be high among the home fans that a US athlete can reach the podium and they have a strong contingent in Sinclaire Johnson and Cory McGee. Johnson took victory at the US Championships with a blazing kick, while the PB of 3:58.85 she ran to finish fourth to Kipyegon in Eugene in May shows she can also be competitive in a fast race.
The heavy hitters will all be in the final of the women’s 1500m as Olympic champ Faith Kipyegon, world indoor record holder Gudaf Tsegay, Olympic silver medalist Laura Muir, and Australian recorder holder Jessica Hull all advance. There will be fireworks 🎆
— CITIUS MAG (@CitiusMag) July 17, 2022
📸: Johnny Zhang pic.twitter.com/xFdpKdpteo
Britain’s Laura Muir Olympic silver is also in the running for a medal as is Australia’s duo of Jessica Hull and Georgia Griffith.
Uganda’s Winnie Nanyondo who finished fourth in the world indoor final in Belgrade has been reinstated in the final, making it 13 instead of the usual 12 runners, after she was pushed and fell in the semis, failing to finish her race.
Additional Information by World Athletics
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