Kipyegon unleashes beast mode to down Hassan, clinches Kenya’s second gold in Tokyo

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 6 – Faith Kipyegon unleashed her beast mode, showing superb tactics to floor Netherland’s Sifan Hassan to clinch gold in the 1500m race in a new Olympic Record time in Tokyo on Friday.

The superb Kipyegon broke the 33-year-old Olympic record set by Romanian Paula Ivan at the Seoul Games in 1988.

Sifan had been chasing an unprecedented record of winning three gold medals in three different track events, having won the 5,000m title and was also waiting for the 10,000m showdown.

In the 1500, Sifan showed a different tactic from how she has been running in the heats as well as the 5,000m final. She went to the front from the start, having run at the back in the previous races.

Having raced against Sifan twice already this season, Kipyegon knew she was not about to let the Dutch out of her sight. She kept to her shoulder all through the race, stalking her like a shadow with every move she makes.

Kipyegon was patient and just waited for the opportune time to pounce, like a predator.

At the ball, Sifan tried to kick in the pace but Kipyegon stuck to her neck like a tick. At the final 300m, the Kenyan reigning Olympic champion started showing her claws. She slowly, but steadily began to open up the pace.

Sifan followed with an injection of pace, trying to remain ahead of the pack.

But Kipyegon had her tact all but bound and sealed. She burst up in pace and heading to the back straight had already opened up a small gap. The more she galloped forward, the more Sifan dropped further back.

She comfortably strode to the finish line, a huge smile on her face with the assurance that gold was hers, for the second time at the Olympic Games,

Hassan dropped third in a time of 3:55.86 while Great Britain’s Laura Muir set a new National Record time of 3:54.50 to clinch silver in second.