Kenya’s Kipyegon, who won gold in the 1500m in Rio 2016 and five years later in Tokyo, was the clear favorite to score a hat-trick and the 30-year-old did so in electrifying fashion, catapulting herself into the league of legends.
After finishing fourth in the first 400m and second in the 800m, Kipyegon stepped on the accelerator at the start of the final lap and slowed down further and further, her power and strength simply too great for the rest of the field. As she turned onto the home straight with a commanding lead like a freight train, all eyes were on whether she could break her own world and Olympic record. She couldn’t break the world record, but she smashed the Olympic record she had broken in Tokyo.
Jakob Ingebrigsten made up for his disappointment in the 1500m and successfully defended his gold in the 5000m with a brilliant last lap. Despite being the clear favorite, the Norwegian freak did not make it onto the podium in the 1500m, but after the first corner of the last lap he took the lead by running comfortably with the field.
He left nothing to chance and built up a nice lead on the following straight, which he defended with a steady run to the finish line and took gold in 13:13:66. This is a masterpiece that can certainly be described as such. Kenyan Ronald Kwemo came in second by a wide margin with a time of 13:15:04, while American Grant Fisher had to settle for bronze.
Results (Final):
Men
On Saturday:
800m: Emmanuel Wanyonyi (Ken, 1:41.19) 1; Marco Arop (Can, 1:41.20) 2; Djamel Sedjati (Alg, 1:41.50) 3.
5000 m: Jakob Ingebrigsten (Nor, 13.13.66) 1; Ronald Kwemoi (Ken, 13:15.04) 2; Grant Fisher (US, 13:15.13) 3.
On Friday:
4x100m relay: Canada (37.50 s) 1; South Africa (37.57 s) 2; Great Britain (37.61 s) 3.
400 m hurdles: Rai Benjamin (USA, 46.46 seconds) 1; Karsten Warholm (Nor, 47.06 seconds) 2; Alison dos Santos (BH, 47.26 seconds) 3.
Triple jump: Jordan Alejandro Fortun Diaz (Spa, 17.86 m) 1; Pedro Pichardo (Por, 17.84 m) 2; Andy Hernandez Diaz (Ita, 17.64 m) 3.
Women:
On Saturday:
100 m hurdles: Masai Russell (US, 12.33 s) 1; Cyrene Samba-Mayela (Fra, 12.34) 2; Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (Pur, 12.36) 3.
1500 m: Faith Kipyegon (Ken, 3:51.29 (OR; Alt: 3:53.11; Faith Kipyegon, August 2021, Tokyo) 1; Jessica Hull (Aus, 3:52.56) 2; Georgia Bell (Gbr, 3:52.61) 3.
On Friday:
400 m: Marileidy Paulino (Dom, 48.17 seconds, OR) 1; Salwa Eid Naser (Bah, 48.53 seconds) 2; Natalia Kaczmarek (Pol, 48.98) 3.
4x100m relay: USA (41.78 s) 1; GBR (41.85 s) 2; Ger (41.97 s) 3.
10,000m: Beatrice Chebet (Ken, 30:43.25) 1; Nadia Battocletti (Ita, 30:43.35) 2; Sifan Hassan (Ned, 30:44.12) 3.
Heptathlon: Nafissatou Thiam (Bel, 6880 points) 1; Katarina Johnosn-Thompson (GBR, 6833 points) 2; Noor Vidts (Bel, 6707 points) 3.
Shot put: Yemisi Ogunleye (D, 20 m) 1; Maddison-Lee Wesche (NZ, 19.86 m) 2; Jiayun Song (Chn, 19.32 m) 3.
