- FAITH KIPYEGON
It was a case of contrasting fortunes in the women’s 1500m at the Rio Olympics. Not many athletes can boast of beating the World Record (WR) holder in the women’s 1500m, Genzebe Dibaba since she became a force to reckon with in recent years. Nevertheless, Kenya’s Kipyegon has now joined that privileged class after upstaging the Ethiopian in Rio.
It’s no news that 2016 has been topsy-turvy for Dibaba who seemed to be the master of all trades while in brilliant form. However, the 2015 IAAF World Athlete of the Year did not complete the only 5000m race she entered in for this year, and was restricted to the 1500m at the Olympics.
Kipyegon made the most of Dibaba’s absence in the IAAF Diamond League series, maintaining a clean sheet this season and won all her races including victories in Shanghai, Eugene and Oslo. Up till the Olympics, the 22-year old had not clashed with Dibaba this season, and many did not expect her to successfully pull off an upset in the event.
But the former World Youth and Junior Champion stepped up to the challenge, securing a hard earned victory to strike GOLD in a time of 4:08.92, a slower time than her Season’s Best (SB) and World Lead (WL) of 3:56.41 set in Oregon in May.
Dibaba settled for Silver in 4:10.27, while USA’s Jenny Simpson took Bronze in a time of 4:10.92. It was sweet revenge indeed for the Kenyan who played second fiddle to Dibaba at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing.
Can you predict the Top 5 African Performers that will be listed in the Part 2 of this feature ?
#1 Almaz Ayana