Faith Kipyegon swept to the women's 1500m title at the world athletics championships in Budapest on Tuesday night to add the world championships crown to her world record over the distance.
In the prelude to the race, the 29-year-old Kenyan insisted she was not concerned with the time needed to defend her title from Eugene but was focused on the gold medal.
She kept to her word at the National Athletics Centre.
She was composed and steely-eyed as the runners took the bell for the final lap. With the 21-year-old Ethiopian Diribe Welteji and the 2019 world champion Sifan Hassan in close attendance, she simply accelerated and stretched the field.
She finished in 3:54.87 - more than five seconds off the world record time of 3:49.11 that she set on 2 June in Florence. Another record followed a week later in Paris in the 5000m and she ran the fastest mile of all time in Monaco just before the world championships.
"I'm grateful for the season I've had with the world records," said Kipyegon. "I ran my race," she added. "We were all strong in the final. Nowadays if you want to win the 1500m you have to run 3:55 and below. It was a fast race and I'm just so happy I was able to defend my title."
Welteji claimed the silver to confirm her rising promise and Hassan got the bronze for the Netherlands.
It was a third gold for Kipyegon at the world championships following triumphs in London in 2017 and Eugene last year.
Soufiane El Bakkali confirmed his dominance in the 3000m steeplechase. The Moroccan, who won gold at the world championships in Eugene after winning the Olympic title in Tokyo in 2021, finished confidently in 8:03.53 ahead of Lamecha Girma from Ethiopia and Abraham Kibiwott from Kenya.
As El Bakkali savoured another victory, Girma was left to lament a third world championships silver medal in a row.
Showman
In the men's high jump, the Tokyo Olympics champion Ginamarco Tamberi took the lead with his first attempt at 2.36m.
Up until that effort, he had been playing second fiddle to the American JuVaughn Harrison.
The effort was good enough to give the 31-year-old Italian his first world outdoor title.
And he savoured the success by climbing up to celebrate with Italian supporters in the crowd.
"I'm very happy," said Tamberi. "I've made many sacrifices and I changed my diet and when I got into the stadium I felt that I had done everything I could do to reach my best level."
In the night's other field event, Laulauga Tausaga from the United States won the women's discus with a personal best throw of 69.49m. Compatriot Valarie Allman was second and Bin Feng from China came third.
UNBELIEVABLE
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) August 22, 2023
🇺🇸's @LaulaugaTausaga smashes her PB by four metres to become the discus throw world champion.
69.49m for the win 👏#WorldAthleticsChamps pic.twitter.com/BecZbL7vVC
"I knew that if I was on my A-game I wouldn't be 12th like I was at the last two world championships," said Tausaga who will go to next year's Olympics in Paris as the woman to beat.
"I guess that's something that comes with winning," added the 25-year-old. "You have a big target on your back. I've only experienced that once with the national college title. I know how much pressure it brings."
