Kenya's Faith Kipyegon breaks women's 1,500m world record

EUGENE, United States -- Kenya's three-time reigning Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon improved her own 1,500m world record on Saturday (Sunday, Manila time), clocking 3min 48.68secs to win at the Diamond League athletics meeting in Eugene, Oregon.

Kipyegon improved on the record of 3:49.04 she set at the Diamond League meeting in Paris July last year. 

The Kenyan was running her first 1,500m of the season, having come up short in a bid to become the first woman to break four minutes in the mile in a special event in Paris on June 26.

She said her preparation for that attempt helped her in her signature event.

"I think the changes were that I was preparing myself for something special, which was to run under four minutes in a mile, and I think I pushed myself, getting better and better toward the 1,500, so I knew it was possible to still run under 3:49," she said.

The "Breaking 4" mile attempt, with the aid of a wealth of technical support including a custom-made suit and new Victory Elite FK shoes, was something of an outlier, but Kipyegon said this race puts her on course for the World Championships at Tokyo in September.

"This is the road to Tokyo, and I would say I am in the right direction," said the 31-year-old Kenyan, who has yet to decide if she will attempt the 1,500m/5,000m double in Tokyo.

Ethiopia's Diribe Welteji finished second in 3:51.44, overhauling Australia's Olympic silver medallist Jessica Hull, who had stuck to Kipyegon until the final lap but settled for third in 3:52.67.

"For someone to show up and just keep doing it over and over again, she's phenomenal," Hull said of Kipyegon. "She was aware that I was going to be there this time, so she put her foot down and made it really hard for that last 500 meters."