Road to Budapest: Faith Kipyegon & Sifan Hassan to renew rivalry at the World Championships

ATHLETICS Road to Budapest: Faith Kipyegon & Sifan Hassan to renew rivalry at the World Championships

Abigael Wafula 07:55 - 05.08.2023

The triple world record holder and the London Marathon winner will square it off in both 1,500m and 5,000m at the World Championships

Triple world record holder Faith Kipyegon will be heading to the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary seeking to extend her hot streak and hopefully bag the 1,500m and 5,000m titles.

However, Kipyegon will not have an easy run as Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan has also entered the race and instead of doubling, Hassan will be tripling in the 1,500m, 5,000m, and 10,000m.

Hassan is a double Olympic champion who is full of surprises and no one really knows the plans she has ahead of clashing with Kenya’s ace Kipyegon. The duo has had a great season thus far and both of them will be hoping to harvest good results as they head to Central Europe.

Kipyegon has had an unbeaten run so far this season and has been in the form of her life, breaking three world records within three months. She started her record-breaking spree at the Diamond League Meeting in Florence on June 2 where she broke the 1,500m world record.

She then proceeded to the Diamond League Meeting in Paris, France a week later where she shattered the 5,000m world record before making history at her favourite place, the Diamond League Meeting in Monaco where she broke the mile world record in July.

She heads to Budapest with one major goal in mind, to successfully defend her 1,500m title and hopefully claim the 5,000m crown.

Hassan, meanwhile, has also been in impeccable form since the start of the season. She made a huge step by debuting in the full marathon in London and to everyone’s surprise, she won. Without resting on her laurels, Hassan doubled in the 1,500m and 10,000m at the FBK Games in Hengelo.

She won in both events, surprisingly, considering she was just from running a full marathon. She then went for the Diamond League Meeting in London, competing in the 5,000m against a strong field and managed third place.

After her disappointing run at last year's World Championships, Hassan will definitely be looking to right the wrongs.