Welteji stuns Kipyegon in World Athletics Road Running Champs
Ethiopian hands Kenyan superstar first defeat of season in women's mile race
At the end of a season in which she had been untouchable on the track, Faith Kipyegon looked like a mere mortal when she finished third in the women’s mile in the inaugural World Athletics Road Running Championships in Riga, Latvia on Sunday.
The 29-year-old Kenyan had set world records of 3 minutes 49.11 seconds in the 1,500 meters and 14:05.20 in the 5,000 in June before lowering the mile mark to 4:07.64 in July. She had then become the first woman in history to win the 1,500 and 5,000 in the same World Athletics Championships when that meet was held in Budapest, Hungary in August and capped her outdoor track and field season with a winning time of 3:50.72 in the 1,500 in the Prefontaine Classic — which served as the Diamond League Final — in Eugene, Oregon on Sept. 16.
However, Sunday was not her day as she faded badly over the final 200 meters of the race that was contested on the downtown streets of the Latvian capital.
Diribe Welteji of Ethiopia placed first in 4:20.98, followed by countrywoman Freweyni Hailu in 4:23.06 and Kipyegon in 4:24.13.
Nelly Chepchirchir of Kenya placed fourth in 4:31.18, followed by Jessica Hull of Australia in 4:32.45.
Welteji’s time crushed the inaugural world record in the women’s road mile of 4:27.97 that American Nikki Hiltz had set in April in a race in Des Moines, Iowa.
Kenyan Mirriam Cherop had run 4:22.54 in winning a mile road race in Honolulu, Hawaii in 2018, but this is the first year that World Athletics began keeping an official world record in both the women’s and men’s events.
Kipyegon had taken the lead after the first 20 seconds of the race and briefly opened up a gap of five meters over Chepchirchir, Welteji, and Hailu after the first two minutes of the contest. But Welteji was a half stride back of Kipyegon 30 seconds later while Chepchirchir and Hailu were another 10 meters behind.
Kipyegon led Welteji as they passed through the one-kilometer mark in 2:41, but the first sign that the Kenyan might be in trouble came at the 3:15 mark of the race when she glanced back over her shoulder. The second hint came 25 seconds later when she did so again. Runners typically do not look behind themselves when they are in the lead and feeling strong. A glance back is most often a sign that they are tiring and trying to check out the position of their closest competitors.
The 21-year-old Welteji, who had finished second to Kipyegon in the 1,500 in both the World Championships and the Pre Classic, was right behind her Kenyan rival at that point in the race and she surged into the lead at the 3:53 mark.
Kipyegon, no doubt fatigued at the end of an historically great season, was unable to mount a response to Welteji’s move and she looked back over her shoulder three more times in the final 100 meters of the race as Hailu closed in on her before passing her shortly before the finish line.
“It was hard, the weather is not good for me,” Welteji said of the cool conditions in a World Athletics post. “When I saw Faith in front, near the line, at that moment I decided to sprint. I could sense that she was tired, and I had it in my mind, ‘I can beat her.'
“I came here to win, to write history and to motivate the new generations of our athletes.”
Welteji’s victory came at the end of a season in which the fourth-place finisher in the 800 in last year’s World Championships ran 3:53.93 in the 1,500 to move to 10th on the all-time World performer list and lead a contingent of four Ethiopian women under 3:55 and five under 3:56.
Displaying the modesty for which she is known, Kipyegon said “It was a very successful season, but unfortunately, I am a little bit tired today. It feels good to be part of these first World Road Running Championships, so I am glad I did it. This was my first road race, so I did well.”
The women’s mile was one of six races that were contested on Sunday.
The others were the men’s mile, the men’s and women’s 5,000 meters, and the men’s and women’s half marathon.
World championships had previously been held in the half marathon, but Sunday’s meet marked the first time the 5,000 and mile had been contested on the roads at the global title level.
Hobbs Kessler of the U.S. won a tightly contested men’s mile in 3:56.13, while Peres Jepchirchir and Sabastian Kimaru Sawe led Kenya to 1-2-3 finishes in the women’s and men’s half marathons with times of 1:07:25 and 59:10, respectively.
Beatrice Chebet of Kenya won the first race of the day, the women’s 5,000, in 14:35, and Hagos Gebrhiwet of Ethiopia placed first in the men’s race that followed with a time of 12:59.
The 20-year-old Kessler, who had signed a professional contract with Adidas after lowering the U.S. national high school record in the 1,500 meters to 3:34.36 while running for Skyline High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 2021, was not considered a favorite in the men’s mile. However, the race only included one runner — Reynold Kipkorir Cheruiyot of Kenya — who had run in the final of the 1,500 in the World Championships and Cheruiyot did not run well, finishing 22nd in 4:05.91.
Kessler got out well and was always near the front of the lead pack throughout the race.
He was in seventh place in a 19-runner lead pack when he came through 1,000 meters in 2:29 and he was running just off the left shoulder of first-place Ryan Mphahlele of South Africa at the three-minute mark.
Yobiel Weldrufael of Eritrea and Kieran Lumb of Canada were also battling for the lead at that point in the race. But Kessler surged into the lead at the 3:35 mark and then maintained his advantage to the finish line as his 3:56.13 clocking turned back second-place Callum Elson of Great Britain (3:56.41), third-place Sam Prakel of the U.S. (3:56.43), fourth-place Mael Gouyette of France (3:56.57), and fifth-place Lumb (3:56.98).
Kessler’s time also lowered the inaugural world record of 4:01.21 that Prakel had set in Des Moines in April.
"It's been a really up and down year and I luckily got in really good shape at the end of the season," Kessler said in a World Athletics post. "The road mile is a very American event and we're quite experienced in them. I'm very proud of myself.”
He added that New Zealand veteran Nick Willis, a medalist in the 1,500 in the 2008 and ‘16 Olympics and a training partner of Kessler, had texted him before the race and advised him to draft behind other runners for as long as he could.
“There was a big headwind in the last 800 meters, and about 150 meters out I struck for home, but immediately regretted it as I got hit with a big blast of wind. I didn't realize how close it was. I was waiting for them to run me down.”
Kessler had lowered his personal best to 3:32.61 in the 1,500 while finishing third in the Los Angeles Grand Prix at UCLA on May 27 and run another best of 1:45.80 in the 800 while placing third in the New York City Grand Prix on Randall’s Island four weeks later. But he finished a disappointing sixth in the 1,500 in 3:36.08 in the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon on July 8 before placing fifth in 3:35.69 in the ISTAF meet in Berlin on Sept. 3.
Unlike Kessler, Jepchirchir was heavily favored to win the women’s half marathon as she had won the two previous titles in 2016 and ‘20.
The winner of the Olympic marathon in 2021, the 30-year-old rarely led during the course of the race, but she was always amongst the leaders who went through five kilometers in 16:25, 10 kilometers in 32:19 (15:54), and 15 kilometers in 48:33 (16:14).
The lead group at that point in the race was comprised of Jepchirchir and fellow Kenyans Catherine Reline Amanang’ole, Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi, and Irine Jepchumba Kimais, along with Ethiopians Tsigie Gebreselama and Ftaw Zeray. However, Zeray fell off the pace five minutes later.
The front pack came through 20 kilometers in 1:04:20 and a minute later Kipkemboi, Jepchirchir, and Amanang’ole had separated from fourth-place Gebreselama, the runner-up in the World Cross Country Championships at Mount Panorama near Bathurst, Australia in February.
Amanang’ole was in front at the one hour and six-minute mark, but Jepchirchir surged into the lead a minute later and her time of 1:07:25 gave her a one-second margin of victory over Kipkemboi, with Amanang’ole at 1:07:34, Gebreselama at 1:07:50, and Kimais at 1:08:02.
“I wanted to win three times and make history, and thank God I have made it,” Jepchirchir said in a World Athletics post. “It was my birthday this week and I told my husband I would work extra hard to get the win.”
She added that she was “so happy for Team Kenya. I knew we would sweep this as a team because I trust my colleagues so much.”
The men’s half marathon started 45 minutes after the women’s and a lead pack of more than two dozen runners came through the first five kilometers in 14:31 to 14:33.
Fifteen runners then passed 10 kilometers in 28:35 to 28:37 and 13 men came through 15 kilometers in 42:37 to 42:39.
Things got interesting about four minutes after that when Kenyan Daniel Simiu Ebenyo and Ethiopian Jemal Yimer Mekonnen broke out of an eight-runner lead pack.
The 28-year-old Ebenyo, who had won the silver medal in the 10,000 in the World Championships before running a personal best of 26:57.80 to win the Memorial van Damme meet in Brussels on Sept. 8, soon broke away from Mekonnen and appeared to have the race well in hand around the 18-kilometer mark
However, the strain of his effort was clearly visible on his face when he came through 20 kilometers in 56:10 after running the previous 5K stretch in 13:33. Sawe, 28, had covered that same distance in 13:37 and he was much more full of run than Ebenyo at that point in the race, and he caught and sped past his countryman less than 200 meters from the finish line.
His winning time of 59:10 gave him a four-second margin of victory over Ebenyo, with countryman Samwel Nyamai Mailu third in 59:19.
Mekonnen finished fourth in 59:22, followed by Jimmy Gressier of France in 59:46.
It was just the second time in the 25th edition of the World Championships in the half marathon that a country has swept the first three places in the men’s race as Kenya had first accomplished that feat in 1997.
“I always have confidence in the last kilometer,” Sawe said in a World Athletics post when asked about overtaking Ebenyo late in the race. “After approaching him, I saw he wasn’t pushing much and I had enough strength and after that, I never stopped.”
Chebet capped the best year of her career by winning the women’s 5,000 as she had won the World cross country title in February, lowered her personal bests to 8:24.51 in the 3,000 and 14:05.92 in the 5,000 during the summer, and won the bronze medal in the 5,000 in the World Championships.
Her 14:05.92 clocking in the 5,000 was the third-fastest in history and had come in the Prefontaine Classic on Sept. 17 when she finished second behind Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia, whose winning time of 4:00.21 had crushed Kipyegon’s previous world mark by nearly five seconds.
Like Jepchirchir in the women’s half marathon, Chebet rarely led the 5,000 until the very end of the race.
She was one of nine runners who came through the first kilometer in 2:55 to 2:56, one of seven who clocked 8:53 or 8:54 at three kilometers, and one of five who were timed in 11:47 or 11:48 at four kilometers.
The lead pack had shrunk to Chebet and countrywoman Lilian Kasait Rengeruk, and Ethiopians Ejgayehu Taye and Medina Eisa at the 12:30 mark and Eisa had been dropped 30 seconds later.
Taye and Chebet had opened a five-meter gap on Rengeruk at the 13:40 mark and Chebet smoothly surged into the lead 20 seconds after that while on her way to 14:35 to 14:39 victory over runner-up Rengeruk, who had rallied to finish head of Taye.
Taye placed third in 14:40, followed by Eisa in 14:41, and Nadia Battocletti of Italy in 14:45.
“I had to be confident,” Chebet said in a World Athletics post. “It was not easy, but the last time I ran the 5,000 in Oregon, I saw I could deliver and today I delivered. It was just an amazing race, something amazing.”
She added that “Winning the World Cross Country [Championships], then running 14:05 for 5,000 on the track, the third-fastest time in history, then today, winning the 5k, it makes me so happy.”
The men’s 5,000, like the women’s, came down to a two-runner duel, except it was a pair of Ethiopians, and not Kenyans, who finished in first and second place.
Gebrhiwet and countryman Yomif Kejelcha were among 23 runners who went through the first kilometer in 2:41 to 2:43.
It was down to that Ethiopian duo and Kenyans Nicolas Kipkorir and Cornelius Kemboi when three kilometers was passed in 7:58 to 7:59 before Kejelcha and Gebrhiwet were clear of everyone when they went through four kilometers in 10:29.
The 26-year-old Kejelcha had been forcing the pace for much of the race after the first five minutes of the contest, but he was never able to break away from his 29-year-old teammate Gebrhiwet, who surged into the lead with more than 400 meters left in the race while on his way to 12:59 to 13:02 victory.
Kipkorir finished third in 13:16, followed by Dawit Seare of Eritrea in 13:21 and Kemboi in 13:24.
Gebrhiwet was thrilled with his victory as it was his first gold medal in a global title race since he won the U20 (under 20) title in the 2013 World Cross Country Championships. It also followed a frustrating performance in the 5,000 in the World Championships in Budapest when the runner with a sparkling personal best of 12:42.18 finished sixth in 13:12.65 in a tactically-run final.
"Coming to this race, I was thinking about Budapest," Gebrhiwet said in a World Athletics post. “I was sick in Budapest and I could not perform well at the World Championships, so I am very proud of what I achieved right now. It is a historic moment for me and for my country to become the first road running world champion. One year ago, maybe I would not even think of running here but now, I am very glad I managed to come and take this victory.”