By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
TOKYO (16-Sep) — There are the world’s top 1500m runners, and then there’s Faith Kipyegon. The 31 year-old Kenyan, three-times the Olympic 1500m champion, ran roughshod over a superb field here tonight at National Stadium to win her fourth world 1500m title in 3:52.15. Already the world record-holder, there is no doubt that she is the greatest of all-time.
“I just want to thank God,” she told a crush of reporters anxious to hear her every word. “I don’t know where to start and finish, but I want to thank God that I have managed to defend my title for the fourth time. This was my dream.”
Capable of executing a race with any strategy, tonight she decided to race from the front. With the exception of the first 100 meters, Kipyegon was the only leader of the race, and she decided to make it fast from the start. She split 400 meters in 64.1 seconds and a train of women did their best to stay close, including Olympic silver medalist Jessica Hull of Australia, her two Kenyan teammates Nelly Chepchirchir and Dorcus Ewoi, Americans Nikki Hiltz and Sinclaire Johnson, and Poland’s Klaudia Kazimierska.
Kipyegon ran the second 400m a little faster (63.2), then dropped the hammer with a 60.8 in the third circuit. Only Hull, Chepchirchir, and Ewoi were still within striking distance. Kipyegon knew that she had to keep the pressure on to make sure that Hull wouldn’t catch her.
“To be honest, I knew Jessica was a strong athlete,” Kipyegon said. “And the rest of the athletes are very strong. This is a championships. This is anybody’s race. I knew after crossing 62 in the 400 I have to keep on going. I can’t go back to 65 or 66.”
Charging down the backstretch on the final lap, Kipyegon went into high gear. Hull was only three tenths of a second behind with 200 meters to go, but then Kipyegon stomped on the gas one more time and made a grand escape into the homestretch. Nobody was close.
“I just wanted to keep on pushing and pushing to the finish line,” she said.
Hull was a solid second as she came out of the final bend, but neither Ewoi nor Chepchirchir were giving up. Ewoi, who is coached by Alistair and Amy Cragg in the Puma Elite Running group in North Carolina, realized that she might be able to catch the Australian.
“In the last 100 I saw myself getting a medal,” said Ewoi, who ran for Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina, during her NCAA career. “So I was like, just push. At the end, I just needed to get this medal.”
As Hull began to tie-up in the final 20 meters, Ewoi rolled her up to get the silver in 3:54.92, a five-second personal best. Hull hung on to cross ahead of Chepchirchir and take the bronze medal, preventing a Kenyan sweep by just 9/100ths of a second. She was timed in 3:55.16 to Chepchirchir’s 3:55.25.
“I kind of felt Nelly coming up on the outside, and I said ‘I’m not losing a medal,'” Hull told reporters. “I was able to hold on in that last 20 meters or so.”
About two seconds back, American Nikki Hiltz took fifth in 3:57.08. The nine-time national champion had finished seventh at the Paris Olympics last summer, and was pleased to have moved up two places.
“I was seventh in the Olympics and fifth this year,” Hiltz told reporters. “You know, you can’t skip steps in this sport. You kind of sometimes have to, like, do little increments and that’s really hard, you know? Obviously, it sucks to be that close to the medals and not get one, but like it’s also a cool feeling too, like, disappointed in being fifth in the world.”
Another former NCAA athlete, Poland’s Klaudia Kazimierska, performed well. The just-graduated Oregon Duck finished seventh in a personal best 3:57.95. Now a professional runner with Nike, she plans to continue to train in Eugene, Oregon, and will be coached by Jerry Schumacher, transitioning from her college coach, Shalane Flanagan.
“I’m really excited,” Kazimierska told Race Results Weekly. “To peak at the right time is always the most difficult thing, and I think like with the stuff in the NCAA, you never know what’s going to happen with injuries and just kind of (being) burned out. So I’m glad that I peaked at the right time. I took my time in July and August for training and I think that paid off.”
BRAZIER LEADS 800M QUALIFIERS
Donavan Brazier, the 2019 world champion who was forced to take a multi-year hiatus from athletics due to injuries, showed he is fully back tonight in the first round of the men’s 800m. Brazier, 28, competed in the last of seven heats and ran a smart race. He was sitting in fourth place at the bell (52.50), and on the backstretch he got away from the main group with rivals Nicholas Kebenei of Kenya, Marino Bloudek of Croatia, and Abderrahman El Assal of Morocco. Brazier ran the final bend smoothly, then shifted slightly to his right to get a clearer run for the finish. His winning time of 1:44.66 was the fastest among the 24 men who advanced to the semi-final round.
“I think this time I feel a little more confident,” Brazier told reporters when asked how he was feeling compared to the last time he competed at a World Championships in 2022. “Last time I was kind of battling through some stuff. This time I got through healthy. I had good training blocks. I’m with a good group (under coach Mike Smith). My headspace is right, so everything is working out pretty good.”
Things did not go nearly as well for 16 year-old Cooper Lutkenhaus, the youngest member of Team USATF here. Running in heat three, he spent most of the race in lane two and was never up with the leaders. With 200 meters to go, the place where he unleashed an incredible kick at the national championships to earn his place here in Tokyo, his body did not respond as he had hoped. He finished seventh in 1:47.68 and did not advance.
“It was definitely tough,” Lutkenhaus said. “I came out here to learn as much as I could and race the best guys in the world. It’s not your day every time; anybody can tell you that. It’s like in school, you fail a math test occasionally. You just come back, and I’m excited for what the future holds.”
Marco Arop of Canada, the reigning world champion, ran a workman-like heat, staying near the front and only running as fast as was necessary to qualify. He finished third in the second heat to Spain’s Mohamed Attaoui (1:45.23) and Kenya’s Kevin Kimtai Loti (1:45.35). Arop was timed in 1:45.39 after doing a little stutter-step before the finish to make sure he didn’t tangle with the two men ahead of him.
“It felt pretty good,” Arop said. “I knew the time was to just qualify for the semi today, and I wanted to test that last hundred and see how long I could hold it. It got a little sticky there at the end, but I just wanted to stay out of trouble.”
Other athletes with serious medal hopes who advanced included American Bryce Hoppel, Briton Max Burgin, Kenyan Emmanuel Wanyonyi, Irishman Mark English, and Algerian Slimane Moula. Burgin, who won the sixth heat by running near the front the entire race then taking the lead with 100 meters to go, felt confident after running 1:44.73.
“I felt alright,” Burgin told a group of British reporters. “I felt like I held my position quite well, and made a move at the right time, and I finished where I needed to finish. I’m pretty happy with that.”
Australia’s Peter Bol failed to advance, after finishing fourth in heat four in 1:45.15. He had a season’s best time of 1:42.55 coming into these championships.
“I was pretty comfortable up until the last 100 meters,” Bol told the Australian press corps. “Then I tightened up. The last 50 meters for me was the toughest.
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Middle and long distance action continues here at National Stadium tomorrow with the women’s steeplechase final, and the highly-anticipated men’s 1500m final where defending champion Josh Kerr of Great Britain will square off against compatriot Jake Wightman, Niels Laros of the Netherlands, Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya, and Jonah Koech of the United States.
PHOTO: Donavan Brazier ran the fastest time of 1:44.66 in the first round of the men’s 800m at the 20th World Athletics Championships in Tokyo (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)
PHOTO: Faith Kipyegon on her way to winning her fourth world 1500m title at the 20th World Athletics Championships in Tokyo (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)
PHOTO: Faith Kipyegon celebrating after winning her fourth world 1500m title at the 20th World Athletics Championships in Tokyo (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)
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ENDS
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