The women’s 1500m was one of the best races of the entire Olympics. The story was not only about the fight for silver and bronze medals, which went down to the very last steps. It was also about Faith Kipyegon’s remarkable third Olympic title, a testament to her skill and determination.
.Stuart Weir wrote 26 stories and 16,000 words for RunBlogRun during the Paris Olympics.
This is his last story from Paris.
It is remarkable the women’s 1,500 and three for Kipyegon
The final of the women’s 1500m was so fast that a time of 3:53.3 was only fifth, and the top nine were under 4 minutes. Six of the 12 athletes ran PBs. That Faith Kipyegon won will surprise no one, and neither will her Olympic record time of 3:51.29. Jessica Hooley’s 3:52.56 would have been an Australian record had she not set a better one earlier this season in Paris.
Leaders went at a seemingly suicidal paceBritain’s Georgia Bell leads the pack but Laura Muir drops the leaders and settles in run as fast as he wants. Laura then began to accelerate and close the gap between the leading group. In five weeks, Laura ran a second PR of 4:53but it was not enough for a medal. Bell stayed with the lead pack and clocked a four-second PR to earn a bronze medal and a new British record.
The top there were five.
1 Faith Kypyegon 3:51.29
2 Jessica Hull 3:52.56
3 Georgia Bell 3:52.61
4 Dribe Veltege 3:52.75
5 Laura Muir 3:53.37
It was Faith Kipyegon’s third consecutive Olympic victory in the 1500m. A comparison of times from the last four Olympics shows how he transformed the event;
2012 Maryam Yusuf Jamal 4:10.74
2016 Faith Kipyegon 4:08.92
2021 Faith Kipyegon 3:53.11
2024 Faith Kipyegon 3:51.29
Laura Muir commented that she had Finish second in 2021, run faster and fifth in 2024.
Faith said about her victory. “Coming in today and running the way I did, after a traumatic 5000, really took a lot out of my mind and I couldn’t sleep until yesterday. I think I’m going to sleep in today after this beautiful race. Running here in Paris was just amazing, also with the fans and the crowd was just amazing. It was amazing to run here and enjoy from the gun to the dive.”
Bronze medalist Georgia Bell said: “Only this week in the heats I thought I could win a medal. As long as I didn’t miss and I was there, I could close it. The tricky part was in the middle where I thought this would hurt. But I knew I had to hang on and finish strong.
I can’t believe what happened. My training has been going well and I know I will never be in the same position again where I go into a game without pressure. Even making it to the Olympics, that’s huge.”
Read more about Georgia Bell’s remarkable return to the sport after years
https://www.runblogrun.com/2024/08/the-amazing-story-of-georgia-bell.html
Laura Muir commented: “That’s exactly how I wanted to run. I knew I could run 3.52/3.53 in my splits, but it was a fast final. I ran a second faster than in Tokyo; this time i’m 5th. There is so much power in this race. It’s crazy how much the sport has moved on since then. I ran the race exactly how I wanted to. I just knew I couldn’t keep up that pace in the beginning. I had to be patient and ride my splits. I knew I could run really fast and I did. I ran a big PB but unfortunately it wasn’t fast enough. But I wouldn’t change anything about that race. I was exactly where I wanted to be; they all ran hard. I made it to most of them, but unfortunately I was a few short.”
Watch the press conference of the medalists at the following address:
