In Paris
Well, if you thought the drama was over, just wait for an encore!
Because Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon and Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay will come head-on, once again, in the final of the 1,500 metres at the Paris Olympic Games on Saturday, August 10, night.
The two were involved in a controversial moment in the final of the 5,000 metres at the Stade de France on Monday night that led to Kipyegon being stripped of her silver medal for “obstructing” Gudaf only for the decision to be reversed by the competition’s Jury of Appeal two hours after the race had blasted off.
In a night of high drama, Kipyegon went back to the Olympic Village in the Paris district of St Denis at about midnight on Monday, distraught after learning of her disqualification – and the loss of a silver medal.
She took a nap and battled to get into the right frame of mind for her next assignment, Tuesday's1,500m heats, before news came through that Kenya’s appeal against her disqualification was successful.
The dramatic race was won by Kipyegon’s compatriot, heir-apparent and world 10,000 metres record holder Beatrice Chebet with Ethiopia-born Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan third.
Chebet stunned the decorated Kipyegon with 50 metres to go, outsprinting the multiple World and Olympic champion to bag Kenya’s first gold medal at these Games with a time of 14 minutes, 28.56 seconds.
The other Kenyan in the race, Margaret Chelimo, finished fifth in 14:32.23 after brilliantly working with Chebet and Kipyegon.
Now, Kipyegon is doubling in the 5,000m and her 1,500m specialty and on Tuesday, she woke up charged and cruised through to the semi-finals of the 1,500m in 4:00.74, alongside compatriots Susan Ejore (3:59.01) and Nelly Chepchirchir (4:02.67).
Gudaf is entered to run in the 5,000m, 10,000m and 1,500m and she also qualified for the 1,500m semi-finals in 3:58.84, the fastest time in the heats, which sets up the mouthwatering script for another tense battle with Kipyegon.
The rivalry between Gudaf and Kipyegon is a high-stakes one, with Gudaf having shattered Kipyegon’s world 5,000m record, running 14:00.21 at the Eugene Diamond League meeting on September 17, 2023, just 100 days after Kipyegon had set the new world best at 14:05.20 on June 9 at the Stade Charletey during the Paris Diamond League meeting.
The draw for the 1,500m semis was drawn by World Athletics with Kipyegon running in Heat One from 7.35pm, Paris time (8.35pm Kenyan time) and Gudaf in Heat Two moments after.
Kipyegon will run alongside her compatriot Nelly Chepchirchir and Great Britain’s Laura Muir one of the more experienced runners in the field besides Kipyegon.
The third Kenyan, Susan Ejore, has been drawn to run in the second heat that features Gudaf and Australia’s Jessica Hull, a 3:50.83 runner with the first six in each heat qualifying for Saturday’s final.
The semi-final draw came after the “repechage” qualifying round yesterday for athletes who failed to gain automatic qualification to the semis, with Gudaf and Kipyegon certain to go through today’s semis, barring extraordinary disaster.
Ethiopia’s Birke Haylom, Italy’s Ludovica Cavali and Spain’s Esther Guerrero qualified for the final from yesterday’s repecharge round.
The rivalry between Kipyegon and Gudaf has been very much the talk of town here and in Addis Ababa, there is concern over social media attacks on Gudaf for almost denying Kipyegon her silver medal.
“We have seen the attacks on ‘X’ and these are unwarranted. Kenyans should know that Ethiopians love Kipyegon even more than many of their own Ethiopian athletes and we find these attacks against Gudaf and Ethiopia unfortunate,” Haile Adhanom said yesterday.
Meanwhile, 5,000m gold medal winner Beatrice Chebet has noted that Kipyegon was not at fault, and that Gudaf pushed her during Monday’s dramatic 5,000m final.
“It wasn’t Faith’s mistake…It was Gudaf’s mistake… I was behind them and Faith was on Lane One and Gudaf tried to get onto that lane… I could see it because I was behind them,” Chebet revisited.
“Faith tried to hold her ground as she retained her balance which could have been seen as the problem.
“Our strategy was to work as a team – that I push the pace, Faith pushes the pace and also Margaret does the same, in turns, to see how they will respond.
“But Gudaf’s pushing and shoving almost messed our gameplan and that’s why Faith took charge and pushed ahead towards the end – I was focusing on winning gold in the 10,000m because I knew Faith is always strong in the last 1,000 metres to 400 metres of the 5,000m race.
“Even when she went ahead, I decided to stay with her to at least get silver, but with 100 metres to go I felt strong and decided to go for it and see if I can get the gold.
