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Sifan Hassan Defeats Olympic Champ Faith Kipyegon At Paris Diamond League

Sifan Hassan Defeats Olympic Champ Faith Kipyegon At Paris Diamond League

Sifan Hassan defeats Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon at the Paris Diamond League, plus full event recap.

Jul 1, 2017 by Johanna Gretschel
Sifan Hassan Defeats Olympic Champ Faith Kipyegon At Paris Diamond League
The Paris Diamond League meeting featured several key international match-ups that served as a preview of the IAAF World Championships to be held in London later this summer. Key among these was Sifan Hassan's 1500m win over defending Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon, and Beatrice Chepkoech's decisive steeplechase win over a field that included three of the four fastest women in world history. There were upsets, too, as reigning Olympic 110m hurdles champion Omar McLeod placed last in his Diamond League race and collapsed to the track with what appeared to be an injury. Check out the live updates blog here for more play-by-play and read on for more detailed analysis and videos of the action, provided by the IAAF.

Women's 1500m: Hassan Over Olympic Champ Kipyegon


The match-up between 1500m world leader Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands and defending Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon of Kenya was pegged to be one of the best races set for Paris. Hassan was undefeated in mile and 1500m races this year and entered the Diamond League event with the two fastest times in the world in 2017, as she ran twice ran 3:56 in races three days apart in Rome and Hengelo earlier this month. No one else in the world had cracked 3:59, though 23-year-old Kipyegon was also undefeated in the middle distance this year with wins at the Prefontaine Classic, Shanghai Diamond League and Kenyan Trials.


Hassan, who has trained with Alberto Salazar's Nike Oregon Project this year, ran straight to the front from the gun, tucking in behind pacemaker Halimah Nakayi, with Kipyegon in two. Nakayi passed through 800m in 2:05.70 and then it was up to the women to do the racing. Hassan kept her front position with Kipyegon content to follow until the bell lap, when she tried and failed to pass her counterpart.

Hassan refused to give an inch to Kipyegon and held her off all the way to the end, crossing the line in 3:57.10. Kipyegon ran 3:57.51, a season-best.

Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay and Poland's Angelika Cichocka set PBs of 3:59.55 and 4:01.61 to place third and fourth, respectively.



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It's not out of reach now to think that the Nike Oregon Project could produce both the men's and women's world champions over 1500m, as defending men's Olympic champion Matthew Centrowitz has five weeks to regain fitness and Hassan, the 2016 world indoor champion and fifth in the Olympic final, must now be considered the women's title favorite. World record holder Genzebe Dibaba has not raced a 1500m yet this season, but has undergone several failed attempts at cracking the world record for 5K.

Women's 3K Steeplechase: Chepkoech Surprises Favorites, Coburn Four Seconds Off American Record


That Beatrice Chepkoech, a woman who has run 9:00.70 for the steeplechase, could be considered the surprise winner in Paris just speaks to the unbelievable depth of the field today. The Kenyan is the fifth-fastest woman in world history and was competing against the world record holder Ruth Jebet of Bahrain, who ran 8:52.78 last year at the Paris Diamond League and won the Olympics as a 19-year-old; Celliphine Chespol of Kenya, the 18-year-old wunderkind who won Prefontaine in a world junior record and No. 2 all-time performance of 8:58.78 despite stopping to fix her shoe; and Hyvin Kiyeng of Kenya, the defending world champion and a 9:00.01 performer.



Whoever won this race, then, would take over status as title favorite for London. Another storyline for U.S. fans was that of six-time USATF champion Emma Coburn, who announced her intent to break her American record of 9:07.63 today.

Coburn assumed the eighth position for the first 2K, about 10 to 15 meters behind the lead pack as two pacers led Chespol, Chepkoech, Kiyeng and Jebet.

On the second-to-last water jump, Jebet made a critical error and tumbled to the ground. Chespol had undergone a similar moment at Pre and rallied to win that race in a new PB, but that would not be the case for Jebet today who quickly fell out of contention.


Chespol led Chepkoech at the bell, with Kiyeng another 10 meters behind but with a significant lead ahead of the felled Jebet. Coburn ran in fifth. The race looked like Chespol's to win, as many wondered how far below 8:58 she was capable of running in a clean race, but Chepkoech had other ideas as the Prefontaine runner-up accelerated the sound of the bell and would not be caught.

The 25-year-old, who was fourth at the Olympics last year, ran 9:01.69 for the win as Kiyeng caught and passed a struggling Chespol on the homestretch. Jebet maintained her position for fourth and Coburn placed fifth in 9:11.08, four seconds off the American record.



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Men's 3K: Muktar Edris Upsets Kwemoi, Kejelcha


Ethiopia's Muktar Edris closed in 54 seconds to take home the 3K win over pre-race favorites Ronald Kwemoi, the Prefontaine Bowerman Mile champion who has so far run undefeated in 2017 --not to mention holds the 3K world lead of 7:28.73 per his win in Doha-- and Yomif Kejelcha, who challenged Mo Farah for the win at the Prefontaine Classic 5K.

Kwemoi and Kejelcha ran in the top two positions behind the pacemakers until two laps to go, when American Ben True --fourth in the 5K at USAs last weekend-- made a bold move to the lead ahead of the Africans. True started to fade on the backstretch with 300m to go, just as Edris positioned himself perfectly to slingshot from third to first in the final straightaway. He would capture the win in 7:32.31, a personal best, over Kwemoi and Kejelcha.

True faded to sixth, but was rewarded with a new personal best of 7:35.53.


Edris is certainly a name to watch ahead of the World Championships as he is not only running well right now, but has something to prove on the world level after being disqualified from the 5K final at the Olympic Games last year in Rio.

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Men's 800m: Nijel Amos Is Back!


23-year-old Botswanian Nijel Amos made up for a disappointing 11th place run at the Rome Diamond League with a nearly wire-to-wire victory in Paris, running 1:44.24, the fifth-fastest time in the world this year. Kenyans Kipyegon Bett and Ferguson Cheruiyot ran right up on him at the bell and Bett made a big move for the lead at 200m to go, but Amos would not be deterred and powered home first.

Amos is best known for winning the Olympic silver medal in the 800m as a mere 18-year-old. Of the four men who have run faster than him this year, one he beat today in Kipyegon Bett, and one is not competing at worlds -- that is, world leader and Olympic bronze medalist Clayton Murphy of the United States. The other two are U.S. champion Donavan Brazier and Kenyan national champion Emmanuel Korir, who won two NCAA titles as a freshman at UTEP this year.

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Upsets Headline Sprint Action Except For Elaine Thompson, Who Is Still The Queen



2017 is still going smoothly for last year's double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson, who captured a relaxed win in 10.91 (+0.1) despite some pressure added by two false starts. Runner-up Marie-Josee Ta Lou was charged with the first false start but still allowed to compete and register as second place today in 10.96, maintaining the Diamond League lead with 20 points overall.

American Morolake Akinosun was not as cool under pressure and placed just seventh today in 11.27, one week after placing fourth in the 100m finals at the USATF Championships.



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Nearly every sprint race suffered from multiple false starts. The men's 110m hurdles, which started with a prelim round earlier in the day, saw American Devon Allen disqualified for a false start. Once the race was rolling, a Jamaican won -- but it wasn't the one most of us were expecting, as Olympic champion Omar McLeod was in the field. Instead of McLeod, who struggled down the homestretch and placed last in 13.41, it was Ronald Levy who took home the win in 13.05 (-0.1), well ahead of runner-up Andrew Pozzi of Great Britain, who run 13.14. Both athletes set personal bests.



McLeod tweeted after the race that both of his calves cramped up.


Newly minted U.S. champion Ameer Webb headlined the men's 200m field, but placed just fourth overall in 20.48 as Turkey's Ramil Guliyev dominated in 20.15.

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In the women's 400m, American Courtney Okolo was hoping for a good run to turn her season around after placing eighth in the U.S. finals. She didn't win or set a season-best, but placing second in 51.19 behind Novlene Williams-Mills of Jamaica, who ran 51.03, is probably as good as she can hope for after the dismal showing at USAs.

Americans Sam Kendricks, Christian Taylor Win Pole Vault, Triple Jump


Not many Americans competed in Paris today, and the field events were especially lacking in red, white and blue. However, those who did participate showed up big-time as Sam Kendricks and Christian Taylor put in show-stealing efforts to win their respective events.

Kendricks' win in the pole vault was especially thrilling as he was able to hand world record holder Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie a defeat on his home turf. The U.S. champion, who cleared 6.00m for the first time in his career in Sacramento last weekend, is riding high from that performance and produced a 5.82m best for the win today. He could have kept competing, but elected to retire as Lavillenie accepted defeat at 5.77m, which he failed to clear in three successive attempts.

Reigning world champion Shawn Barber of Canada placed third and, like Lavillenie, had a best jump of 5.62m on the day. Barber missed two attempts at 5.72m, then elected to go to 5.77m for his last attempt, which he also missed.


Lavillenie's younger brother, Valentin, was ninth with a best mark of 5.37m.


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Christian Taylor of the United States continued his sort-of undefeated streak in the triple jump with a 17.29m best today, from his second jump. We say "sort-of" undefeated because he intentionally fouled out of the USATF Championships to save his health for the European circuit. U.S. champion Will Claye was second and saved his best jump for last, reaching 17.18m on his final attempt.


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