Kipyegon sets women’s mile world record, her third of season

Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon continued her remarkable form by smashing the women’s mile world record at the Monaco Diamond League meet on Friday, her third of an unforgettable season. Kipyegon, a two-time Olympic 1,500m gold medallist and twice world champion, clocked 4min 07.64sec for victory for another world best after setting world records in the 1500m and 5,000m in June.
Her time over the mile obliterated the previous world record of 4:12.33 set by Ethiopian-born Dutch runner Sifan Hassan in 2019, also in Monaco.
Aided not only by on-the-mark pace-setting but also by the Wavelight trackside lighting system that indicated world record pace, Kipyegon took the lead with two laps to run and made no mistake in perfect running conditions with a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius.
In a blistering race there were regional records for North America, South America and Oceania, as well as national records for Ireland (Ciara Mageean, second) and Britain (Laura Muir, fourth). Ethiopia’s Olympic 1500m silver medallist Freweyni Hailu finished third.
Earlier, American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone was a late withdrawal from the women’s 400m at Diamond League meeting in Monaco because of an injury. The 23-year-old was unable to compete “due to a knee issue as advised by her doctors”, organisers said.
McLaughlin-Levrone stormed to Olympic gold in the 400m hurdles in Tokyo and went on to win world gold last year in Eugene in 50.68sec.
She has opted to concentrate on the 400m flat this season, which will reach a peak with the world championships in Budapest on August 19-27.