Will Olympic 1,500m champion Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon shift her focus to 5,000m after retaining her Olympics 1500 metres gold at the Olympic Stadium on Friday?
In an interview with Olympic.com last year, Faith Kipyegon said that she was considering a new challenge after the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
“Hopefully I want to defend my title before I shift to 5,000m because I want to shift to 5,000m in the future. I want to defend my title in the 2020 Olympics and hopefully, I will do my best,” she said.
Faith is yet to confirm if she will be upgrading to the 5,000mevent after a successful career in the three-lap race.
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The 27-year-old won women’s 1,500m gold with a new Olympic record of 3. 53.11 seconds.
The previous Olympic record of 3:53.96 was set by Romania’s Paula Ivan in Seoul in 1988.
Hassan had to settle for bronze as Britain’s Laura Muir took silver at the Olympic Stadium.
Hassan came into the race as the newly-crowned 5,000m Olympic champion, a first of what she had hoped would be a hat-trick of golds. She also plans to compete in the 10,000m on Saturday.
Kipyegon came back stronger after she became a mother for the first time in 2018. It is a role she loves: “It’s really nice when I see my daughter running around and calling me ‘mamma’. So it just gives me motivation to work hard for her future.”
In 2019, Kipyegon made the switch to train under Patrick Sang in the now-legendary camp in Kaptagat. It has become a breeding ground for champions, and her training partners now include marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge and half marathon world record holder Geoffrey Kamworor.
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