Nairobi — Double Olympic and World Champion Faith Kipyegon came inches close to breaking the 1500m World Record as she ran the second fastest of all time, clocking 3:50.37, a new National Record, Personal Best and World Leading time at the Monaco Diamond League on Wednesday night.
It was a race between Kipyegon and the clock, but the determined 28-year old just came 0.3seconds off the World Record set by Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba at the same venue in 2015.
Heading to the home stretch, Kipyegon, aided by the wavelight technology running on the side of the track showing her the world record mark put in a massive shift, summoning all her energy as she attempted to beat the 3:50.07 mark.
But at the end, she was just a step slower and she slumped to the tartan, worn out from the massive shift she employed in search of history.
From the start, it was a race between her and the clock and the two pacemakers, Jamaica's Tracey Adelle and USA's Allie Wilson were tasked with ensuring she runs the first two laps as quick as possible.
She was on their neck from the gun and ensured she remained within the pace.
At the bell, she dug in for all energy available, but could only afford to break her own national record as well as run her lifetime best.
Earlier on, 1500m World Champion Jake Wightman won the men's 1000m race, with recently crowned 800m Commonwealth Games Champion Wycliffe Kinyamal coming in fourth while World Champion Emmanuel Korir was bottom.
Kinyamal had attempted to chase down Wightman who was second at the home stretch behind Marco Arop of Canada, but lost his bid for third at the line to American Murphy Clayton.
Artmotion S.Africa
