
Faith Kipyegon is one of the all-time great distance runners, and after winning three Olympic gold medals and setting numerous world records, the Kenyan track star has her sights set on a historic number.
Kipyegon will look to become the first woman to break the 4-minute mile on June 26 at Stade Charléty in Paris, a track chosen because it’s where Kipyegon has already set two world records in the 5,000 meters and 1,500 meters. She also has the women’s mile world record of 4:07.64, set in 2023 at the Diamond League Monaco race, but now she is working with Nike to try and break the 4-minute milestone for the first time in history by a woman.
“I’m a three-time Olympic champion. I’ve achieved World Championship titles. The team and I were asking, what else can we achieve? Are we going for more medals?” Kipyegon said in a release. “We asked, why don’t we dream outside the box? Achieve the impossible. Make it possible.”
Kipyegon is training for the race in Kenya with Eliud Kipchoge, who became the first man to break the 2-hour marathon mark back in 2019 in a similar event. If Kipyegon goes under 4 minutes it won’t be an official world record because the attempt won’t meet the sport’s standards — like Kipchoge’s sub-2 hour marathon in 2019, which used pace-setters to lead him around the track. However, the goal isn’t to break the world record officially as much as it is to prove a feat once considered impossible to be possible.
“I think this attempt could open the minds of women,” Kipyegon said. “I hope they will be inspired to know that what a man can do, a woman can do. You can dream and make your goals happen. Boundaries are there to be pushed. This is the way to go as women, to push boundaries and dream big.”
Kipyegon has two more months of training before her attempt, when she’ll step on the track in Paris looking to improve her record-setting time by eight seconds.
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