Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon defended her Olympic 1,500m title with a dominant display as Britain’s Laura Muir smashed her personal best and national record.
Leading with 300m to go, 27-year-old Kipyegon broke away from Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan and Laura to win in 3:53.11.
Laura took silver in a time of 3:54.50 with race favorite Hassan clocking 3:55.86 to bag bronze.
Kipyegon’s triumph was a new Olympic Record as she smashed Russia’s Paula Ivan mark of 3:53.96 set during Seoul Olympics back in 1988.
After a steady first 700m where the pace was 70 seconds per lap, Hassan began to open up the race around the halfway mark.
Australia’s Linden Hall took it on another gear around 100m as the leading runners slimmed down to just five with Kipyegon behind Hassan and Laura.
With one more lap to go Hassan found the front as Laura and Hall slipped back, but it mattered little as Kipyegon tore down the finishing straight for the penultimate time.
Though there was no crowd to cheer in the sixth day of athletics in the Olympic Stadium, the Kenyan runner established a 10m lead down the back straight.
And she extended it further as she completed a final lap of 46 seconds to give her opposition no chance of stripping her of her crown.
Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon shakes off the pack in her trademark kick going past Britain’s Laura Muir and Sifan Hassan of Netherlands.Photo Credit/Reuters
