Kipyegon leads Chebet to women's 5,000m final in Olympics
Faith Kipyegon competes in heat 1 during Olympics heats at Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France on August 02, 2024.
What you need to know:
- Kipyegon will be competing in the 1,500m heats on Sunday before going for a possible third Olympic gold medal after victories in 1,500m at 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo.
- Chebet, making her first appearance at the Summer Olympics, edged out Ethiopian Medina Eisa to second place in 15:00.82 as Australia's Rose Davies clocked 15:00.86 for third.
Women’s 5,000 metres world record holder, Faith Kipyegon, and world cross country champion Beatrice Chebet of Kenya eased through to the women's 5,000m final in athletics at the Paris Olympic Games on Friday.
Kipyegon, the two-time Olympic 1,500m champion, took charge with two laps to go, holding off the field to win the first heat in 14 minutes and 57.56 seconds.
Chebet, the world 5km champion, who is also the 10,000m world record holder, took the bell in second place before hitting the front at the home straight to put away the second heat in 5:00.73.
This was Kipyegon’s second major championship race where she will be doubling up in 1,500m and 5,000m after winning world titles over the two distances in Budapest, Hungary last year.
Kipyegon’s compatriot, the 2019 world 5,000m silver medallist, settled fourth in 14:57.70 but had done enough to join Kipyegon in the final.
Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan, who claimed a double in 5,000m and 10,000m at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, pulled from behind to finish second in 14:57.65 followed by Italian Nadia Battocletti in 14:57.65.
Tokyo Olympic 5,000m bronze medallist Gudaf Tsegay from Ethiopia dug in for fifth place in 14:57.84 to also qualify for the final scheduled for Monday.
Kipyegon will be competing in the 1,500m heats on Sunday before going for a possible third Olympic gold medal after victories in 1,500m at 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo.
Chebet, making her first appearance at the Summer Olympics, edged out Ethiopian Medina Eisa to second place in 15:00.82 as Australia's Rose Davies clocked 15:00.86 for third.
However, Kenya’s 4x400m mixed relay team of Daniel Sanayek, Veronica Mutua, Boniface Mweresa and Mercy Chebet failed to qualify for the final of their event.
Kenya clocked 3:13.13 for seventh place in the first heat that the United States of America won in a world record time of 3:07.41 as they erased their previous record of 3:08.80 set at last year’s world championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Hosts France and Belgium finished second and third in national records of 3:10.60 and 3:10.74 respectively to also claim their automatic place in the final due for Saturday.
