A thrilling women’s mile on Friday in Belgium produced the fastest time the world has seen in 19 years, as Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon equaled American Mary Slaney’s 4:16.71 time that stands as 4th-best all-time. 

 

Even without 1500m World record holder Genzebe Dibaba in the race, Kipyegon and the Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan were dead-set on chasing Svetlana Masterkova’s 4:12.56 mile World record on Friday in Brussels, and they were on record tempo early as they crossed the first 400m in a blistering 62 seconds in the Diamond League finale. 

 

With a 63-second next lap, Kipyegon and Hassan, the silver and bronze medalists in the 1500 final at the World Championships in Beijing, crossed halfway in 2:05.69, with the record now fully within striking distance. After the first pacer, Chanelle Price, stepped off (Price paced Dibaba’s 3:50 WR, remember?), Poland’s Angelika Cichocka took over the tough job of leading the effort, as the trio had built a 30m lead on the chase pack that included Americans Jenny Simpson and Shannon Rowbury.

 

The 2nd pacer stepped off at the kilometer mark, leaving the pair to duke it out with history on the line. Kipyegon led Hassan at the bell in 3:10.76 as the two women ran stride for stride, with 4:12 still an outside possibility. 

 

Hassan made the first move with 300m to go, passing Kipyegon but still unable to shake her entirely. The 22-year-old Hassan would hold her lead until 100m to go, when the Kenyan was able to swallow a weary Hassan and sprint away to glory. The last lap was a slow 65.9 seconds, but that didn't matter as the race was a magnificient display of grit and fearlessness by the two women.

When the 21-year-old Kipyegon crossed the line in 4:16.71, she would become the fastest miler in African history, and the quickest the world has seen since the Russian Masterkova’s record-setting run in 1996. 

 

Hassan would settle for 2nd in a huge 11-second 4:18.20 PR and a Dutch national record. She had already locked up the season-long Diamond Race title before tonight’s competition. 

 

Shannon Rowbury and Jenny Simpson battled while Kipyegon was running herself into the record books, with Rowbury getting the narrow victory and 3rd place finish in 4:22.10. Simpson ran a 3-second PR of 4:22.18 for fourth. 

 

After losing the previous seven 1500 races against Simpson before her American record-breaking 3:56.29 in Monaco on July 17th,  Rowbury has now beaten her compatriot in three straight 1500/mile races. 

 

Simpson did beat Rowbury just last week in the 3,000m in Zurich.