Latest news with #4-MinuteMile
8 hours ago
- Sport
Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon tries to become 1st woman to break 4-minute mile next week in Paris
Faith Kipyegon's already a three-time Olympic 1,500-meter champion. She's already the world-record holder in the mile and 1,500. Next on her to-accomplish list: Become the first woman to break the 4-minute mile barrier. The 31-year-old Kipyegon is making a run at that hallowed mark in a Nike-sponsored event dubbed ' Breaking4: Faith Kipyegon vs. the 4-Minute Mile" on June 26 at the Stade Charlety in Paris. She set the world record mark of 4:07.64 nearly two years ago during a Diamond League meet in Monaco. 'I think breaking four will really cement my legacy,' Kipyegon said in a Zoom call on Wednesday. 'The next generation is looking up to us to show them the way and this is what I'm doing now. ... Everything we do, we have to dream big and just believe in ourselves that we could do it.' It was more than 71 years ago when British runner Roger Bannister became the first man to eclipse 4 minutes when he ran 3:59.4. For Kipyegon, finding extra speed to trim a little more than 7.64 seconds occupies her thoughts and drives her in training. But really, she and her coach, Patrick Sang, aren't altering from their routine too much to chase a sub-4 mile time. What she's doing in workouts now has already proven highly successful. She won her third straight 1,500 Olympic title in Paris last August. A month before that, she broke her own 1,500 record on the same track where she will run next Thursday. 'For me, I would say being mentally strong and believing in everything I do,' she said of preparing for big moments. 'Believing in the training, believing in waking up to empower the next generation, believing in everything that has been from my younger time when I was running barefoot to where I am now. It has really given me that drive to wake up and go for training and just be strong.' She will be wearing the latest innovations from Nike, too, from her aerodynamic track suit to her spikes. Should she break the mark, it would be subject to ratification by World Athletics. Fellow Kenyan runner, longtime friend and training partner Eliud Kipchoge has been providing emotional support. He had an event set up for him in 2019, when he ran a marathon in 1:59:40 to break the 2-hour marathon barrier at the INEOS 1:59 Challenge in Austria. The mark wasn't ratified by the sport's governing body. 'It will be lovely to see Eliud after the finish line,' said Kipyegon, who's a four-time world champion. 'I get positive messages from around the world that I can do it. ... It really motivates me a lot going on to this challenge. I know it will not be easy, but I'm going to try my best and we will see what the finish line offers.' She's eager for the challenge to show the next generation of female runners that anything is possible. That includes her young daughter, Alyn. 'You have to dream and just be patient for it,' Kipyegon said. Same with her quest next week, which she will approach in increments. 'You have to dream of how will I cross the 800 mark? How will I cross that 1,200 mark?" Kipyegon explained. "It's the repetition of, 'I have to be myself and just think of how will I shed the seven seconds?' "I will feel so great if I just run after that finish line and see under four minutes. It will be historical.'
San Francisco Chronicle
9 hours ago
- Sport
- San Francisco Chronicle
Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon tries to become 1st woman to break 4-minute mile next week in Paris
Faith Kipyegon's already a three-time Olympic 1,500-meter champion. She's already the world-record holder in the mile and 1,500. Next on her to-accomplish list: Become the first woman to break the 4-minute mile barrier. The 31-year-old Kipyegon is making a run at that hallowed mark in a Nike-sponsored event dubbed ' Breaking4: Faith Kipyegon vs. the 4-Minute Mile" on June 26 at the Stade Charlety in Paris. She set the world record mark of 4:07.64 nearly two years ago during a Diamond League meet in Monaco. 'I think breaking four will really cement my legacy,' Kipyegon said in a Zoom call on Wednesday. 'The next generation is looking up to us to show them the way and this is what I'm doing now. ... Everything we do, we have to dream big and just believe in ourselves that we could do it.' It was more than 71 years ago when British runner Roger Bannister became the first man to eclipse 4 minutes when he ran 3:59.4. For Kipyegon, finding extra speed to trim a little more than 7.64 seconds occupies her thoughts and drives her in training. But really, she and her coach, Patrick Sang, aren't altering from their routine too much to chase a sub-4 mile time. What she's doing in workouts now has already proven highly successful. She won her third straight 1,500 Olympic title in Paris last August. A month before that, she broke her own 1,500 record on the same track where she will run next Thursday. 'For me, I would say being mentally strong and believing in everything I do,' she said of preparing for big moments. 'Believing in the training, believing in waking up to empower the next generation, believing in everything that has been from my younger time when I was running barefoot to where I am now. It has really given me that drive to wake up and go for training and just be strong.' She will be wearing the latest innovations from Nike, too, from her aerodynamic track suit to her spikes. Should she break the mark, it would be subject to ratification by World Athletics. Fellow Kenyan runner, longtime friend and training partner Eliud Kipchoge has been providing emotional support. He had an event set up for him in 2019, when he ran a marathon in 1:59:40 to break the 2-hour marathon barrier at the INEOS 1:59 Challenge in Austria. The mark wasn't ratified by the sport's governing body. 'It will be lovely to see Eliud after the finish line,' said Kipyegon, who's a four-time world champion. 'I get positive messages from around the world that I can do it. ... It really motivates me a lot going on to this challenge. I know it will not be easy, but I'm going to try my best and we will see what the finish line offers.' She's eager for the challenge to show the next generation of female runners that anything is possible. That includes her young daughter, Alyn. 'You have to dream and just be patient for it,' Kipyegon said. 'You have to dream of how will I cross the 800 mark? How will I cross that 1,200 mark?" Kipyegon explained. "It's the repetition of, 'I have to be myself and just think of how will I shed the seven seconds?' "I will feel so great if I just run after that finish line and see under four minutes. It will be historical.'
Winnipeg Free Press
12 hours ago
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon tries to become 1st woman to break 4-minute mile next week in Paris
Faith Kipyegon's already a three-time Olympic 1,500-meter champion. She's already the world-record holder in the mile and 1,500. Next on her to-accomplish list: Become the first woman to break the 4-minute mile barrier. The 31-year-old Kipyegon is making a run at that hallowed mark in a Nike-sponsored event dubbed ' Breaking4: Faith Kipyegon vs. the 4-Minute Mile ' on June 26 at the Stade Charlety in Paris. She set the world record mark of 4:07.64 nearly two years ago during a Diamond League meet in Monaco. 'I think breaking four will really cement my legacy,' Kipyegon said in a Zoom call on Wednesday. 'The next generation is looking up to us to show them the way and this is what I'm doing now. … Everything we do, we have to dream big and just believe in ourselves that we could do it.' It was more than 71 years ago when British runner Roger Bannister became the first man to eclipse 4 minutes when he ran 3:59.4. For Kipyegon, finding extra speed to trim a little more than 7.64 seconds occupies her thoughts and drives her in training. But really, she and her coach, Patrick Sang, aren't altering from their routine too much to chase a sub-4 mile time. What she's doing in workouts now has already proven highly successful. She won her third straight 1,500 Olympic title in Paris last August. A month before that, she broke her own 1,500 record on the same track where she will run next Thursday. 'For me, I would say being mentally strong and believing in everything I do,' she said of preparing for big moments. 'Believing in the training, believing in waking up to empower the next generation, believing in everything that has been from my younger time when I was running barefoot to where I am now. It has really given me that drive to wake up and go for training and just be strong.' She will be wearing the latest innovations from Nike, too, from her aerodynamic track suit to her spikes. Should she break the mark, it would be subject to ratification by World Athletics. Fellow Kenyan runner, longtime friend and training partner Eliud Kipchoge has been providing emotional support. He had an event set up for him in 2019, when he ran a marathon in 1:59:40 to break the 2-hour marathon barrier at the INEOS 1:59 Challenge in Austria. The mark wasn't ratified by the sport's governing body. 'It will be lovely to see Eliud after the finish line,' said Kipyegon, who's a four-time world champion. 'I get positive messages from around the world that I can do it. … It really motivates me a lot going on to this challenge. I know it will not be easy, but I'm going to try my best and we will see what the finish line offers.' She's eager for the challenge to show the next generation of female runners that anything is possible. That includes her young daughter, Alyn. 'You have to dream and just be patient for it,' Kipyegon said. Same with her quest next week, which she will approach in increments. 'You have to dream of how will I cross the 800 mark? How will I cross that 1,200 mark?' Kipyegon explained. 'It's the repetition of, 'I have to be myself and just think of how will I shed the seven seconds?' 'I will feel so great if I just run after that finish line and see under four minutes. It will be historical.' ___ AP sports:
NBC Sports
23-04-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Faith Kipyegon bids to be first woman to break 4-minute mile in special race
Faith Kipyegon will bid to become the first woman to run a mile in under four minutes in June 26 in Paris. The event is being billed as 'Breaking4: Faith Kipyegon vs. the 4-Minute Mile.' 'I don't believe it's a matter of if a woman can break 4 minutes in the mile,' was posted on her social media. 'It's a matter of when we will do it.' Kipyegon, 31, won the last three Olympic gold medals in the 1500m, the closest distance to the mile that's on the Olympic program. She is the women's world record holder in the mile (4:07.64 from 2023) and the 1500m (3:49.04 from 2024). 'I want this attempt to say to women, 'You can dream and make your dreams valid,'' she said in a press release. 'This is the way to go as women, to push boundaries and dream big.' Nick Zaccardi,
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Faith Kipyegon's audacious bid to be first woman to run sub four-minute mile
Faith Kipyegon holds the women's mile record of 4min 07.64sec but the odds are stacked against her breaching the four-minute mark. Faith Kipyegon holds the women's mile record of 4min 07.64sec but the odds are stacked against her breaching the four-minute mark. Photograph: Nike It remains one of the most enduring images in the history of sport: Sir Roger Bannister collapsing at the finish after becoming the first person to shatter the four-minute-mile barrier. Since that day in 1954, when Bannister achieved a feat many had thought was impossible, just over 2,000 others have followed in his footsteps – all of them men. But the pages of history could soon be freshly rewritten after the Olympic 1500m champion, Faith Kipyegon, and her sponsors Nike, announced plans 'to make the impossible possible' again by becoming the first woman to run a sub-four-minute mile this summer. Advertisement The Kenyan, who is widely regarded as the greatest female middle-distance runner of all time, holds the mile record of 4min 07.64sec. And while cutting nearly eight seconds off that mark would appear to be extraordinarily difficult, she will be armed with the next generation of super shoes and the assistance of male pacers to help her achieve her goal. 'I'm a three-time Olympic champion. I've achieved world championship titles,' said Kipyegon. 'I thought: 'What else? Why not dream outside the box?' And I told myself: 'If you believe in yourself, and your team believes in you, you can do it.'' 'I want this attempt to say to women: 'You can dream and make your dreams valid,'' added the 31-year-old, who will make her attempt at the milestone on 26 June at the Stade Charléty in Paris. 'This is the way to go as women, to push boundaries and dream big.' Nike is calling her attempt Faith Kipyegon vs the 4-Minute Mile and while most experts believe she is up against it, the US sportswear brand does have form when it comes to what it calls 'moonshots'. Advertisement In 2017 there was also considerable scepticism when Nike announced that another Kenyan, Eliud Kipchoge, would attempt 'breaking two' – to run a marathon in under two hours at the Monza Formula One race track. And while he fell just short on that occasion, two years later he went on to run 1:59.40 in Vienna – albeit in an event that did not count under World Athletics rules as he used 40 pacemakers, who subbed in and out of the run to help him draft and reduce wind resistance. Kipyegon will adopt similar tactics for her attempt, with a recent scientific paper suggesting that she 'could run 3:59.37 with drafting provided by one pacer in front and one in back who change out with two other pacers at 800m'. Further help will come in the form of the next generation of super shoes, which are currently being tested by Nike athletes. As Trevor Painter, coach of the Olympic 800m gold medallist Keely Hodgkinson, told the Guardian: 'Nike's tech team came out to South Africa earlier this year to show us samples of what's to come. Next year there's a new shoe coming out which is like: 'Wow, this is a bit of space age.' It will shave tenths off track times, no doubt.' Advertisement Still, the challenges Kipyegon faces are considerable. Typically an athlete has to be capable of running an 800m in 1.52 or 1.53 to run under four minutes for a mile, while the Kenyan's personal best is 1.57. Even with better shoes and better drafting, she needs to cut a substantial amount of time. It makes it look less like a moonshot and more like trying to make it to Mars. However, Kipyegon is training at altitude in Kenya, where she is running 300 metre repeats at 43 seconds, in an attempt to prove the doubters wrong. 'She is convinced that it's within her reach,' her coach Patrick Sang says. 'And with the proper support coming from all the systems around her, I believe it's possible.' In a statement, Nike said it was 'obsessing every detail, spanning footwear, apparel, aerodynamics, physiology and mind science to enhance Kipyegon's performance, underscoring the brand's holistic approach and fundamental belief in pushing the limits of human potential'. 'How do you make the impossible possible? You start by calling your moonshot,' it added. 'And as moonshots go, Faith Kipyegon's is as audacious as they come.' Advertisement Meanwhile, Seema Simmons, Nike's vice-president of global women's running, told the Guardian that she saw parallels with Kipchoge's sub-two-hour marathon attempt and what Kipyegon is hoping to achieve. 'I was here in 2017 and you have that same daring spirit,' she said. 'We have an athlete that is determined and has an audacious goal to break barriers. And then from our side, we're committed to making sure that we provide that advanced innovation, holistic support, and the ideal conditions to push the potential of human limits.' Whatever happens, Kipyegon is likely to capture plenty of hearts and headlines. And while her attempt is being conducted outside World Athletics' rules, if such an insurmountable barrier does come crashing down, that fact will be a mere footnote amid the noise.
