by Stuart Weir
The Women’s 1,500 meters was one of the finest races of the entire Olympics. The story was not just about the battle for the silver and bronze medals, which went down to the very final steps. It was also about the significant achievement of Faith Kipyegon’s third Olympic title, a testament to her skill and determination.
.Stuart Weir wrote 26 stories and 16,000 words for RunBlogRun during the Paris Olympics.
This is his final story from Paris.
A remarkable women’s 1500 and three for Kipyegon
The women’s 1500m final was quick to the extent that 3:53.3 only got you fifth place, and the top nine went under 4 minutes. Six of the 12 athletes ran a PB. That Faith Kipyegon won will not surprise anyone, nor was her time of 3:51.29 Olympic record. Jessica Hull’s 3:52.56 would have been an Australian record if she had not set a better one in Paris earlier this season.
The leaders went off at what seemed a suicidal pace, with Britain’s Georgia Bell going with the leading group, but Laura Muir let the leaders go and settled into running at the pace she wanted to. Then, with a lap to go, Laura started to speed up and cut the gap to the leading group. In five weeks, Laura ran a second 4:53 PR, but it was not enough for a medal. Bell stuck with the leading group and earned herself a bronze medal and a new British record with a four-second PR.
The top five were:
1 Faith Kipyegon 3:51.29
2 Jessica Hull 3:52.56
3 Georgia Bell 3:52.61
4 Diribe Welteji 3:52.75
5 Laura Muir 3:53.37
This was Faith Kipyegon’s third successive Olympic victory at 1500m. A comparison of the times at the last four Olympics shows how she has transformed the event:
2012 Maryam Yusuf Jamal 4:10.74
2016 Faith Kipyegon 4:08.92
2021 Faith Kipyegon 3:53.11
2024 Faith Kipyegon 3:51.29
Laura Muir commented that she had come second in 2021, run faster in 2024, and come fifth!
Faith said of her victory: “To have come here and run today as I ran, after a traumatic 5000, it really took a lot in my mind, and I could not sleep until yesterday. I think I’m going to sleep today after this beautiful race. Running here in Paris was just amazing, also with the fans, and the crowd was just amazing. Running here and cheering from the gun to the dip was amazing.”
Bronze medalist Georgia Bell said: “I only thought this week in the heats that I could medal. As long as I didn’t let the gap go and I was there, I could close it. The tricky part was in the middle, where I thought this would hurt. But I knew that I had to hang on and finish strong.
I can’t believe what’s just happened. My training has gone well, and I know I’ll never be in the same position again where I come into a game without pressure. Even making it to the Olympics, this is huge.”
Read more on Georgia Bell’s remarkable story of her return to the sport after years away at
https://www.runblogrun.com/2024/08/the-amazing-story-of-georgia-bell.html
Laura Muir commented: “That’s exactly how I wanted to run. I knew I could run 3.52/3.53 in my splits, but it was a quick final. I ran a second faster than I did in Tokyo; this time, I got 5th. There’s so much strength in this race. It’s mad how much the sport has moved on since then. I ran the race exactly like I wanted to. I just knew I couldn’t keep that pace up at the start. I had to be patient and run my splits. I knew I could run very fast, and I did. I ran a big PB, but unfortunately, it wasn’t fast enough. But I wouldn’t change anything about that race. I was exactly where I wanted to be; they all ran hard. I caught up to a lot of them, but unfortunately, I was a couple short”.
Watch the medalists’ press conference at:
