I was not planning to write something on the Eugene Diamond League. But when I saw those superb images of Béatrice Chebet celebrating Kipyegon's 1500 record more than her own in the 5000 m I felt that I had to do something.
But let us start at the beginning. And I will start with a missed record, that of Winfred Yavi in the 3000 m steeple. She ran in 8:45.25 at less than a second form the world record of Béatrice Chepkoech. This is the second time that Yavi gives the record (that goes back to 2018) a scare. And since she is just over 25 years old she has several good years ahead of her that would probably allow her to bring the record bellow 8:40. (But she should beware of Faith Cherotich and Peruth Chemutai who are just 21 and 25 respectively and who ran in 8:48.71 and 8:51.77 finishing behind Yavi. In fact Chemutai was second behind Yavi last year in Rome when Yavi ran her best 8:44.39, finishing in 8:48.03). Those who follow my blog know that I am a great admirer of Béatrice Chepkoech (I insist on her given name because there is a second Chepkoech, Jackline, running also the 3000 m steeple, with a 8:57.35 from 2023 and who is not quite 22 years old. She looked at some point as the successor to her homonyme. Unfortunately her last two years have been really below-par: her 2024 best was 9:19 and this year she has not done better than 9:30). However when Yavi made her appearance I immediately saw that we had there a pure gem. She did take her time to reach the summit (and there was a time, like in my report on theTokyo Olympics, when I was voicing my disappointment for her 10th place in the final). And thus whenever the two, Chepkoech and Yavi, ran together I knew I was going to be frustrated, since only one of the two could win.
Béatrice Chebet confirmed (it's not as if anybody had a doubt) her position as the queen of middle distances. After having broken the 29 min barrier in the 10000 m, she did break another magical barrier, that of 14 min in the 5000 m. The men's 15 min record was improved in 1904 and the 14 min fell in 1942 when G. Hägg ran 13:58.2. His record was improved by such illustrious names as Zatopek and Kuts in the mid fifties. Things are even more spectacular in the 10000 m. It took Zatopek from 1949 to 1954 and five successive records before he managed to finish under 29 minutes. Seventy years later a woman manages to do as well as Zatopek! Paola Pigni was the first woman to run under 16 minutes in 1969 and Ingrid Kristiansen broke the 15 minutes barrier in 1984. Then it took another 40 years for the next barrier to fall. In the case of the 10000 m Mary Decker Slaney was the first to run under 32 minutes in 1982, Kristiansen went under 31 just three years later but the 30 minutes barrier fell under the highly questionable chinese 1993 boom, thus muddling the statistics. Chebet, with last year's 28:54.14, set the record straight (pun intended).
I was somewhat skeptic concerning Faith Kipyegon's chances at a world record. In particular after the crazy, publicity-motivated, attempt at a below-4 mile. (Let's get real. Kipyegon's record is a great 4:07.64. Asking for a 3% improvement in one go is ridiculous. And one could see that Kipyegon, running already all out in the first three laps, was struggling on the stretch opposite to the finish. She managed a 4:06.42, but I am convinced that she could have done equally well in a normal race with just one or two female pacers and a sensible race strategy. And in Eugene she adopted the best possible one. She followed the pacer, S. Hurta-Klecker a 4:01 runner, who did a great job, up to 1100 m and then took off. While in Paris she faltered over the last two hundred meters, in Eugene she was flying. Even J. Hull, who is admittedly the second best 1500 m runner, could not follow her opponent's devastating sprint. Kipyegon finished in 3:48.68 and the celebrations followed. And Kipyegon redeemed herself after the Paris failure.
PS No, I am not going to comment on the article "Could a female athlete run a 4-minute mile with improved aerodynamic drafting?" by da Silva and collaborators (Roy. Soc. Open Sci. 12: 241564). It is easy to fiddle with parameters and obtain the result you wish when it is just a 3% effect. Obtaining that on the track is a totally different matter. But let us not be negative and just rejoice at these two superb records we watched in Eugene.
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