Middle-Distance Magic: Sedjati and Kipyegon make History in Paris
The French capital is quickly becoming the best place to run if you’re a middle-distance athlete. I hadn’t planned on writing anything about the Paris Diamond League, but Djamel Sedjati and Faith Kipyegon have forced my hand with two of the most impressive races I have seen this year.
Men’s 800m
Djamel Sedjati and Emmanuel Wanyonyi have successfully revived the men’s 800m. Last year, two guys barely got under 1:43. In the three years prior, only one man managed to do it, and it was by less than one-tenth of a second. Yesterday, six guys did it in one race.
The athletes in the men’s 800m at the 2024 Paris Diamond League in the home straight
Right from the gun, Sedjati and Wanyonyi assumed their favourite positions on the track: Sedjati in the pack so that he can work his way through with a late kick, and Wanyonyi at the front so he can make it as quick as possible. Both tactics have carried these two men to an undefeated 800m season this year; however, only one could leave Paris with their streak intact.
Last week, I wrote that whoever won this race would go to the Olympics as the favourite. After getting the better of his Kenyan counterpart by just 0.02 seconds, Sedjati continues his unbeaten season and will return to the French capital next month with a target on his back. His 1:41.56 victory gives him the world lead and puts him at number three on the all-time list, but if yesterday’s race taught us anything, it’s that even credentials as impressive as those might not be enough to win.
The greatest challenge will likely come from Wanyonyi, as it did today. The 19-year-old slipped from third to fourth on the all-time list on account of Sedjati’s win, but he did improve his personal best to 1:41.58 to become the first person since David Rudisha to break 1:42 multiple times in the same year. Behind the leading pair came local hero Gabriel Tual, who clocked 1:41.61 for the fifth-fastest time in history and who will be looking to perform in front of his home crowd at the Olympics.
Every man in the top eight set a new personal best, and four national records were broken. We also saw the fastest ever second-, third-, fourth-, fifth- and sixth-place finishers in history, and when you consider that the likes of reigning world champion Marco Arop weren’t in the field, it becomes clear that the men’s 800m could end up being the most exciting race of the 2024 Olympics.
Women’s 1500m
Faith Kipyegon has done it again. After withdrawing from a handful of races earlier in the year due to injury, she opened her season last month at the Kenyan Olympic trials with a dominant win in the 1500m and the 5000m. Last night, she brought that incredible form back to the international stage, running 3:49.04 to improve upon her own 1500m world record.
“It feels amazing to break the world record. After the trials, I knew that I was in world record shape. I have run the quickest time in Kenya with the altitude. It showed me that I was capable of breaking the world record again. With my injury, I was really scared because I didn’t know if I was going to make it. But I took my time and trusted my team and stayed out of competition for long. I will absolutely do the double in Paris, in the 1500m and the 5000m.”
Faith Kipyegon celebrates her new women’s 1500m world record
Despite her unmatched speed, Kipyegon was not alone at the front. Australia’s Jessica Hull stuck to the Kenyan from the start, only slipping away on the final lap. She was duly rewarded with a 3:50.83, which moves her to fifth on the all-time list (fourth if you ignore the 1993 performance of Yunxia Qu, which has been all but proven to be the product of the Chinese state-funded doping program).
This is not the first time Hull has chased Kipyegon during a world record attempt. When the Kenyan first set the 1500m world record last year in Florence, Hull held on for 800m before fading to a 3:57.29 (an Australian record at the time). Yesterday, she stayed in contention until 200m to go, and was able to take more than five seconds off her national record in the process. She continues to improve her standing as one of the only Australians throughout history capable of challenging the might of East Africa.
“That was incredible! I have worked so hard over the last few weeks. I felt amazing out there and couldn’t believe it. I knew Faith kept looking back at me in the back straight, and I thought I must be running really fast here if she is worried…I am so proud of what I just did.”
Jessia Hull crosses the line to lower her women’s 1500m national record
A distant third was Laura Muir, who still managed to improve her British record by nearly a second with a 3:53.79.
Just as in the men’s 800m, the top eight all set personal bests, with 12 of the 13 finishers breaking four minutes, the most ever in a single race. Unlike the men’s 800m, the favourite is unlikely to be threatened when she returns to Paris next month. Kipyegon has half of the ten fastest times in history (more if you ignore those Chinese times from the 90s) and is on track to become the first woman to win the same track event at three Olympics. Save for her second-place finish at the 2019 World Championships (she had given birth the year prior), Kipyegon has been untouchable over this distance since her maiden Olympic title in 2016. She is in the form of her life and will return to France next month as the heavy favourite.
You can find the full results from the 2024 Paris Diamond League here.