- Faith Chepng’etich Kipyegon won the 800m race beating world-renowned athletes
- Her father was a runner in the 800m and 1,500m categories
It was billed as the penultimate race of the 2017 London World Championships, with a start list brimming with menace, speed, endurance and athletic power.
Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya of South Africa, US champion and Olympic bronze medallist Jenny Simpson, Great Britain’s Laura Muir, Netherlands’ world indoor champion, Sifan Hassa, defending champion and world record-holder Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia – all with below four-minute times in the 1500m women’s race.
And in that mix of gunpowder stood a coy, tiny gazelle from Ndabibit village in Kuresoi, Nakuru. That girl is Faith Chepng’etich Kipyegon.
She didn’t disappoint. Cruising down the stretch, her legs cutting through the air with the rhythmic power of a well-oiled engine, Faith struck Kenyan women’s first gold medal in 1,500m in the IAAF World Athletics Championships history, leaving the sporting world dazed.
The 22-year-old Kenyan track queen is drop-dead gorgeous, an eye candy who stopped male athletes on their tracks at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London. Her beauty and style side-lined the ‘yellow-yellow’ Ethiopian track superstars that Kenyan men drool over.
The lithe girl from far-flung Ndabibit village, who caught the world’s attention, running barefoot to finish fourth at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, in 2010 is now a track assassin. Gorgeous in running kit and absolutely stunning in an evening gown, she is the perfect poster that would leave any pin-up model gasping in envy.
This beauty would no doubt cause a traffic jam on Moi Avenue if she crossed that road on a Sunday morning! Then meet her in her room at Keringet Athletics Camp in Nakuru County listening to a mix of Tanzania music super star, Diamond Platnumz – and you will confirm her unbridled love for Bongo Flava.
Her full lips sit pretty on her lovely, bright face, emphasising a beauty that the manicured nails and blow-dried soft hair crown with such great flair. Faith has come so far since her maiden trip abroad on July 4, 2011 for the IAAF World Youth Championships in Lille, France.
She has come a long way from the clean-shaven Winners Girls High School student who, as a junior, raced her peers to the ground.
When she threw down the gauntlet to race down her opponents, it was evident she has come of age. “I won the Olympics last year but the victory at the World Championships is sweeter because I fought the hardest,” says the 22-year old, who lined up for what was termed as the most unpredictable race of the championships.
“In Rio, I was only wary of Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia because I had a fantastic season. In London, Caster Semenya, Dibaba, Sifan Hassan, Laura Muir and Jenifer Simpson were all gold medal prospects,” she said.
The senior world championships gold was the only major medal lacking in her collection. She has achieved what most of her peers just dream of. Sample her calling card; World Youth (Under 18), World Junior (Under 20), World Cross, Commonwealth Games, World Relays and Olympic titles.
“I couldn’t sleep the moment we landed in London. I did not even feel hungry. It was an extremely difficult time waiting for the competition. The only good thing is that the pressure was not only on me but also on the rest of the field.
“It was well distributed among us, especially after I lost to Sifan at the Monaco Diamond League before coming into the championships,” said Faith, before making history as the first Kenyan female world champion in 1,500m since the race was introduced in Gothenburg Sweden in 1995.
“I knew it would be a tough race and everyone was going for gold. I knew nobody would go to the front in the first two laps and they would go faster in the last lap. So I trained for it,” she said.
She is managed by Dutchman Jos Hermens of Global Sports Communications, whose stable collected five gold, six silver and four bronze medals in London.
At times, Faith trains in Dutch’s oldest city of Nijmegen, where their management has a camp.
As a Form Two Student at Winner’s Girls High School in Keringet, Faith was among young athletes feted at the centenary celebrations of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in Barcelona, Spain, in 2012.
All along Faith had wanted to improve on her father Samuel Koech’s exploits in athletics.
“My father was a good 800m and 1,500m runner but unfortunately, he never boarded a plane. He would only win his races up to nationals and go back home as there were no big competitions like we have these days,” Faith said.
In 2014 during the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, Faith, then a Form Three Student, exhibited exceptional courage to snatch the Commonwealth Games 1500m gold medal at Hampden Park Stadium.
She beat a classy field that included track star Hellen Obiri and a strong Australian and Canadian challenge to win her maiden track championship race since graduating to seniors, having won the Africa cross country championships in Kampala, Uganda, in March that year.
At only 22, she has a long career ahead, and no doubt, her charming smile will light up the finish line again and again, her athletic, beautiful frame draped in the national flag.
“You know, it’s really hard to say I’m the best or that I will the best ever. I prefer to make short-term plans to avoid putting too much pressure on myself. So far, I’m happy with my achievements,” she said.
