#5 | Male Athlete of 2015

#5 | Male Athlete of 2015

#5 | Male Athlete of 2015No. 5 | No. 4 | No. 3 | No. 2 | No. 1 Asbel Kiprop: The Master 1500m Tactician 2015 proved to be the year of Asbel Kiprop dominatin

Dec 31, 2015 by Taylor Dutch
#5 | Male Athlete of 2015

#5 | Male Athlete of 2015


No. 5 | No. 4 | No. 3 | No. 2 | No. 1

Asbel Kiprop: The Master 1500m Tactician 


2015 proved to be the year of Asbel Kiprop dominating the 1500m as the 2008 Olympic Champion claimed his third consecutive World Championship title in Beijing. 

Throughout the year, Kiprop proved that he can win in any tactical situation. The performances that showed this expertise the most were at the summer Diamond League meetings in Monaco and London. The Monaco race was executed in a front-running style that led to a personal best of 3:26.69, which also stands as the third-fastest 1500m all-time. 



The London Diamond League race was run with completely different tactics as Kiprop started the race from the back of the pack, but managed to come from behind to win the mile in 3:54.87 ahead of World silver medalist Matt Centrowitz. 

“I was having confidence because after running 3:26 last week, I wasn’t nervous at all when I was in a slow race,” Kiprop said following the performances. “At the 500m [to go] mark, I decided to catch up with the guys in front at the bell and maybe at 300m I would be with them in order to accelerate at the last part.”

The Diamond League races were a preview of the dominance that continued at the World Championships in Beijing. Because of convicted doper Rashid Ramzi, Kiprop was robbed out of standing on the gold medal podium at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but 2015 proved to be a completely different story as Kiprop commanded the victory with a 3:34 winning time. The win marked KipropÂ’s third consecutive world title. He trails only Hicham El Guerrouj for the most 1500m World titles in history.



“I remember I would have stood in that podium in 2008, gold medal in hand and hear the national anthem played,” Kiprop said following the win in Beijing. “I am happy that is has happened now for me, it is like a dream come true.”