Kipyegon breaks her own 1500m record in Paris Diamond League

Faith Kipyegon hit world record-breaking form at Sunday's Diamond League meet in Paris in the perfect boost before the Olympics kick off in three weeks' time in the French capital.

Returning to the scene of her record-breaking mark over 5000m last year, Kipyegon broke her own world 1500m record in the final race of the evening.

Led out by two pacemakers, two-time defending Olympic champion Kipyegon broke to the front and clocked 3min 49.04sec in a superb display of running. It improved by 0.07sec her previous best set in Florence in June 2023.

The early pace was swift, with Kipyegon covering 800m in 2:04 as Australia’s Jess Hull positioned herself just a stride behind the multiple world and Olympic champion.

With the pacemakers having dropped out, Kipyegon covered the third lap in 60.8 seconds and continued to increase her pace.

She kicked at the bell and opened up a gap over Hull, striding clear to win in 3:49.04, taking 0.07 off the world record she set last year in Florence.

Hull finished second in 3:50.83, smashing her own Oceanian record to move to fifth on the world all-time list. Laura Muir was third in a British record of 3:53.79, and for the first time ever, 12 women finished inside four minutes.

“I knew the world record was possible because I recently ran very fast in Kenya,” said Kipyegon, who clocked 3:53.98 at Kenya’s Olympic Trials. “I was coming here to just run my race and to see what shape I’m in to defend my title at the Olympics.”