Faith Kipyegon announces return to Florence Diamond League Meeting after two years

ATHLETICS Faith Kipyegon announces return to Florence Diamond League Meeting after two years

Abigael Wafula 21:55 - 19.04.2023

Kipyegon broke the 1500m national record of 3:53.91 in 2021 in Florence.

Two-time world 1500m champion Faith Kipyegon has announced she will return to Florence for the third leg of the Wanda Diamond League at the Pietro Mennea Golden Gala on June 2.

Kipyegon broke the national record in 2021 in Florence and she will be keen to replicate the same performance when she lines up against a strong field. She headlines the women's 1500m at the event.

https://twitter.com/GoldenGalaDL/status/1648266856631812097?s=20

The two-time Olympic champion will also rekindle her mixed memories of Florence, having narrowly lost to Sifan Hassan in a thrilling race two years ago despite setting what was then a national record of 3:53.91.

She has since reduced that record by more than three seconds, most recently at the Wanda Diamond League in Monaco last year when she clocked 3:50.37 to miss out on Genzebe Dibaba’s 2015 world record time of 3:50.07 by an agonising 0.3 seconds.

The time she posted, however, saw her become the second fastest woman over the 1500m.

Kipyegon remains the woman to beat in the 1500m, with the Diamond Trophy just one of three major global titles she currently holds.

Her victory in Zurich last year saw her crowned Diamond League champion for the third time in her career and came just weeks after she had successively reclaimed her world title at the World Championships in Oregon.

Kipyegon started her season with the Sirikwa Cross-country Classic, which saw her run away with the top honours in the women’s senior race. She clocked 33:55 to win the race. She had also announced that she will kickstart her track season at the Diamond League meeting in Doha, Qatar.

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