Kipyegon to launch Diamond League title defence in Xiamen
Kenya's Faith Kipyegon reacts after winning and beating the world record in the women's 1500m during the "Meeting de Paris" Diamond League athletics meeting at the Charlety Stadium in Paris on July 7, 2024. Kipyegon clocked 3min 49.04sec, improving by 0.07sec her previous best set in Florence in June 2023. (Photo by Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT / AFP)
The 1500m world record holder etched her name in annals of track history in 2024, claiming a 1500m three-peat at the Paris Olympics to become the first athlete ever to win three consecutive gold medals over the distance, where she also set a new Olympic record.
She padded her remarkable winning streak over 1,500 metres, which she has not lost since 2021, with her fifth Diamond League season title at the series finale in Brussels last September.
The 30-year-old track legend now needs just one more series title to equal Sandra Elkasevic's record and become the joint most successful female athlete in Diamond League history.
Kipyegon has also become a serial world record breaker in recent Diamond League seasons, notching up four world records in 2023 and 2024.
Her current personal best in the 1000m is 2 minutes 29.15 seconds, an African record which is less than 0.2 seconds off the world record held by Svetlana Masterkova.
The Diamond League is the elite one-day meeting series in global athletics that comprises 15 of the most prestigious events in global track and field.
Athletes compete for points at the 14 series meetings in a bid to qualify for the two-day Diamond League Final, which will be held in Zurich on August 27-28, 2025.
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