Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon of Kenya won gold in the 1500m women’s race after pulling ahead of favorite and world record holder Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia in the final lap. American Jennifer Simpson came in a very respectable third, nabbing a bronze medal and giving the United States its first medal ever in this event.
Kipyegon crossed the finish line with an insane time of 4:08:93, seconds ahead of Dibaba’s 4:10:27 time. Simpson, no slouch herself, came in at 4:10:53.
Dibaba was the favorite to win this race, setting a world record in 2015 by running this thing at a bonkers 3:50:07, roughly the amount of time it takes me to walk to the store on a good day. This year’s proceedings were a little different.
The announcers were quick to remind viewers that Dibaba is without her coach Jama Aden who’s currently embroiled in a messy little doping scandal after being arrested and allegedly found with performance enhancing drugs in Spain earlier this summer. The 1500m race encountered serious trouble in the 2012 Olympics in London after six of the nine athletes competing were eventually disqualified due to performance-enhancing drug violations.
None of that happened this year, which is great news! Instead these women ran almost a mile in under 5 minutes and then collapsed in that very specific joy and exhaustion that comes from running very fast in a terribly short amount of time.
