Faith Kipyegon Reveals Her Biggest Regret After Season-Ending Injury

Triple Olympic and world 1,500m champion Faith Kipyegon has spoken out about the hamstring injury that has effectively ended her season, expressing deep disappointment and regret.

The Kenyan superstar revealed she has been grappling with the injury since May, a strain to the muscles in the back of her thigh that can take weeks or months to heal.

The setback will force her to miss the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest this September, a premier event with a $10 million prize pool reserved for the sport's top champions.

"If there is something that has left me in shock, it is this injury. In fact, I don’t like talking about it at all," Faith Kipyegon told Nation Sport.

Kipyegon now believes that competing in recent Diamond League meets, the Prefontaine Classic in Oregon and the Monaco Diamond League, worsened the condition.

"I think I should have been keen on taking care of the hamstring first," she admitted, reflecting on her decision to race.

The 1500m world record holder first felt the injury after her victory at the Shanghai Diamond League on May 16, where she clocked a world-leading time of 14:24.14 in the 5,000m. Despite the issue, she continued to compete, driven by her competitive spirit.

"I didn’t want to miss the Nike Prefontaine Classic, and I didn’t want to miss competing in the magic of Hayward Field," she explained.

However, her results reflected the strain, with a third-place finish in the Mile at Prefontaine and a fourth-place finish in the 3,000m in Monaco.

In a social media post last week, Faith Kipyegon officially announced her break from the sport. "As athletes, we often deal with challenges you can’t always see from the outside," she wrote.

"Since the end of May, I have been dealing with a hamstring injury and unfortunately it needs a bit longer to recover than I had hoped."

Her focus has now shifted entirely to recovery. "I now just want to focus on healing first, before I can even start thinking about my first training and when it will be," she stated. "I can’t promise when I will be back."