Faith Kipyegon: 3 Times Kenyan Legend Made History in Paris - Will Breaking4 Be Next?

Faith Kipyegon returns to Paris to attempt to be the first woman to run a mile under four minutes and recent outings in the French capital suggest she chose the right place.

Faith Kipyegon will attempt to be the first woman to run a mile under four minutes when she takes to the track at the Stade Charlety in Paris on Thursday.

Kipyegon has set up an elaborate plan that she hopes will help her achieve what no woman has ever managed and write fresh chapters of history with technology set to play a major part in her quest.

The 31-year-old is already the world record holder over the mile but her time of 4:07.64, recorded in Monaco in July 2023, is 7.65 seconds shy of what she is looking for.

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Kipyegon therefore hopes to shave off 7.65 seconds in Paris and she will be doing it at a place that holds special memories to her since she has enjoyed some of her best moments on track in the City of Love.

Faith Kipyegon: 3 Times Kenyan Legend Made History in Paris - Will Breaking4 Be Next?

Paris Diamond League: September 9, 2023

Kipyegon’s best moment in Paris took place on June 9, 2023 when she broke her second world record in a span of seven days.

The mother of one had just broken the 1,500m world record in Florence, Italy on June 2 and in the next Diamond League meeting in Paris, she signed up for the 5,000m, her first race over the distance since 2015.

However, what happened surprised everyone as she stormed to the 5,000m world record, shattering Letesenbet Gidey's time of 14:06.62, which had been set in 2020, as she clocked 14:05.20.

What made it sweet is that she had beaten Gidey in the race, the Ethiopian finishing second on the day, although Kipyegon’s world record lasted just two months before another Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay broke it after clocking 14:00.21 in Eugene in September that year.

Paris Diamond League: July 7, 2024

Kipyegon’s second best moment in Paris took place one year later when she returned to the French capital for the Paris Diamond League meeting on July 7, 2024.

In what was her second race over the distance in the season, few expected a record-breaking pace from Kipyegon, who had seen her campaign delayed by an injury.

But Kipyegon always defies expectations and on this day, she broke her own world record by seven hundredths of a second, running 3:49.04, which is unchallenged to date.

Paris Olympics: August 10, 2024

Her win in July served as the perfect preparations for the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics in the very city and Kipyegon returned one month later to make history.

Having won silver in 5,000m, a race that nearly saw her disqualified after a scuffle on track with Tsegay, Kipyegon won an appeal and entered the 1,500m final fully focused on August 10, 2024.

She was expected to win this time round and did just that, outsprinting eventual silver and bronze medallists Jessica Hull and Georgia Bell, to win gold in a time of 3:51.29 which was also a new Olympics record, having broken her previous mark of 3:53.11 set at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

That gold medal made it three Olympics titles for Kipyegon which saw her become the first woman to achieve such a feat while cementing her legacy as the greatest 1,500m runner of all time.

As she hits the track in Paris on Thursday, the question therefore is whether Kipyegon will make further history in a city that has been so kind to her in recent years.