Photos: Wikimedia Commons
A world or Olympic final is quite a common yardstick to use when measuring the quality of any field. But the women’s 5000m line-up at the Meeting de Paris – the French stop on the Wanda Diamond League on Friday (9) – is arguably better than any global championships start list.
One week on from her record-breaking 1500m feat in Florence, Faith Kipyegon will move up to a distance she has not contested for eight years, and will take on three other world record-holders: Letesenbet Gidey, Beatrice Chepkoech and Ejgayehu Taye.
Kipyegon has only contested two 5000m races to date, both back in 2015, and the last of which was also in Paris. Her PB stands at 14:31.95, but that came in a season when she was in 3:59 form for 1500m, and before she won double world and Olympic golds. The 29-year-old Kenyan now has 3:49.11 1500m speed in her legs, as well as superb natural endurance – as shown by her 62-second winning margin over 10km at the Sirikwa Cross Country meeting in Eldoret earlier this year.
Put simply: if Kipyegon doesn’t smash her personal best, it would be a huge surprise.
The victory, however, may be harder to come by. But in recent months Kipyegon has spoken about a potential move up in distance – and one that will eventually lead to the marathon – so Friday’s race will be something of a stepping stone towards that goal.
