Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon, Beatrice Chebet cap season with Diamond League titles
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
Kenya's Faith Kipyegon crosses the finish line to win the 1,500m final of the Diamond League meeting in Brussels, on Sept 14.
PHOTO: AFP
BRUSSELS – Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon padded her remarkable winning streak over 1,500m with her fifth Diamond League season title at the series finale on Sept 14, while compatriot Beatrice Chebet nearly crashed into a photographer en route to her 5,000m victory.
The 30-year-old Kipyegon, who has not lost over the distance since 2021, took the lead just before the final lap and then held off a challenge from Diribe Welteji to cross the line in 3min 54.75sec. The Ethiopian clocked 3:55.25.
The world-record holder and three-time reigning Olympic champion in the 1,500m smiled and held up five fingers after securing the win. “My goal was to finish my Diamond League season in a good way and I did,” she said.
“It was a good race, but definitely not an easy one.”
Chebet, who won Olympic gold in the 5,000m and 10,000m in Paris, cruised home in a time of 14:09.82, her stiffest challenger being the photographer who stepped into Lane 1 on the Kenyan’s penultimate lap.
“It’s not easy to do even better the next years, but you have to train hard, to have faith in yourself and stay focused,” she said.
“Now I am going back to my country, celebrate with my family and take some holidays.”
The winners in 16 disciplines earned a Diamond League trophy and US$30,000 (S$39,000). Another 16 were crowned on the opening day.
American Kenny Bednarek beat Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana to win the men’s 200m in 19.67 seconds. Tebogo, who became the first African to win the Olympic 200m title in Paris, trailed home in 19.80sec.
“This year I shocked a few people with how fast I was running,” two-time 200m Games silver medallist Bednarek said. “This season people saw a glimpse of what I can do. Next year I will be even faster and more dangerous.”
Kenya’s Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi powered past Djamel Sedjati of Algeria and Canada’s Marco Arop over the final 50m to win the men’s 800m.
The 20-year-old Wanyonyi did just enough to win in a relatively slow 1:42.70.
Italy’s Leonardo Fabbri handed triple Olympic champion Ryan Crouser of the United States a rare defeat in the men’s shot put, with 22.98m on his first throw. Crouser, the world-record holder, was second with 22.79m.
Other winners included Japan’s Haruka Kitaguchi, who followed up her Olympic javelin gold medal with victory on her final throw, and Brazil’s Alison dos Santos and Femke Bol of the Netherlands, who won the men’s and women’s 400m hurdles respectively. REUTERS
