Faith Kipyegon bounced back in spectacular style from the disappointment of failing to run a four-minute mile in Paris by shattering her 1500m world record in Eugene.
On a day when the women’s 5,000m world record also fell in the 50th running of the Prefontaine Classic, the 31-year-old Kenyan looked to be odds against to break her record at the bell. Yet Kipyegon was able to find an extra gear as she ran the last 300m in a staggering 44 seconds to break her previous world record by 0.36sec.
Eight days earlier she had faded sharply in Paris to run 4:06 for the mile. But here she looked far stronger and sharper as she came home in 3min 48.68sec. Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji was second in 3:51.44, ahead of Australia’s Jessica Hull in 3:52.67. Britain’s Georgia Bell finished strongly to come fourth in a season’s best 3:54.76.
Earlier the Olympic 5,000m and 10,000m champion, Beatrice Chebet, became the first woman in history to cover 5,000m inside 14 minutes, clocking a world record of 13:58.06. The Kenyan, returning to the track where she broke the world 10,000m record last year, was tracked for most of the race by the former world 5,000m record holder Gudaf Tsegay and Agnes Jebet Ngetich.
But she kicked hard with 200m remaining before taking 2.15sec off Tsegay’s best. Ngetich took second place in 14:01.29, the third-fastest time in history, and Tsegay placed third in 14:04.41.
“When I was coming here to Eugene, I was coming to prepare to run a world record, and I said I have to try,” Chebet said. “I said: ‘If Faith is trying, why not me?’ And today, I’m so happy because I’ve achieved being the first woman to run under 14.”
There was also a thrilling men’s mile race as the 20-year-old Dutch star Niels Laros came from 20 metres back in the final 100m to somehow beat Yarod Neguse by one-hundredth of a second in a time of 3:45.94.
There was also a shock in the women’s 100m as Melissa Jefferson-Wooden beat the Olympic champion, Julien Alfred, in a thriller. The pair were locked together all the way down the straight before the American just got her head in front to win in 10.75, despite running into a -1.5m/s headwind, with Alfred 0.02 back.
Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith was sixth in 11.14 with Sha’Carri Richardson last in 11.19.