Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon set a women’s 1,500 metres world record on Friday by clocking 3:49.11, while world champion Fred Kerley triumphed in the men’s 100 metres at the third Diamond League meeting of the season.
Kipyegon shaved almost an entire second off the previous mark of 3:50.07 set by Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba in 2015.
The world record completes the 29-year-old’s collection of feats, adding to her two Olympic 1,500m golds and the 2017 and 2022 world titles, Commonwealth Games gold medal from 2014 and three Diamond League titles.
The Kenyan remained behind the pacemakers for the first half of the race before racing clear in the final 300m to finish well ahead of Britain’s Laura Muir and Australian Jessica Hull, with her rivals crowding around to congratulate her after the race.
“I’m so happy for Faith,” Muir said. “I would have loved to be closer to her. But for the first race of the season this is really decent. I have never gone through the first 800m as fast as today.”
