Faith Kipyegon Sets New World Best In The Mile

On June 26th, three-time Olympic champion and three-time world record holder Faith Kipyegon headed to Paris, France, in hopes of achieving the unthinkable. Kipyegon, the current world record holder in the mile at 4:07.64, attempted to break four minutes in the event.

Although Kipyegon did not achieve the goal, she did set a new world best of 4:06.42. She also proved that a sub-four-minute time may be even more possible than we think.

Here is a guide that details some of the specifics of what will be hailed as one of the greatest days in women’s track and field history.

What Is Breaking4 And How Did It Come To Be?

In April of this year, Nike announced its new journey, which involved the current women’s mile world record holder, Kipyegon, attempting to break the four-minute barrier in the event. Kipyegon’s record is 4:07.64, meaning she would have to shave off almost eight seconds to not just rewrite history but to shatter it.

Despite this seeming impossible, Nike is known for investing in projects that push the boundaries of physical capabilities and human comprehension. Most notably, they did something similar with marathon legend Eliud Kipchoge. Kipchoge’s venture was called Breaking2, aimed at breaking the two-hour barrier in the marathon.

Nike’s hope with Kipyegon was to develop a holistic system that incorporated innovation in every aspect of her race. This included shoes, her racing kit, her training, her pacers, the location of the race, the date of the race, and more. Nike utilized as much research as possible to create the most optimal conditions for Kipyegon to challenge history.

The complete Breaking4 journey was heavily documented on Amazon Prime, produced by the company Box to Box, which is the same production company that developed Netflix’s SPRINT and Drive to Survive.

On June 26th, Kipyegon’s race was streamed in several locations, including Nike’s YouTube channel, Nike’s Twitch stream, and Amazon Prime. The broadcast included commentary from track and field legends, such as nine-time Olympic gold medalist and world record holder Carl Lewis, as well as two-time Olympic medalist and champion Keely Hodgkinson.

With everyone involved putting their best foot forward, Kipyegon embarked on a journey no one had ever dared to try before. The world record holder and Olympic champion came through her first lap at 1:00.02. Her time through 800 meters was 2:00.75. When she completed her third lap, she ran 3:00.22, meaning she was undoubtedly on pace to earn a sub-4-minute time.

As Kipyegon moved through her final time around the oval, the pacers, as planned, began to break out of formation and cheer for her as she continued to make her way to the finish line. Despite everything lining up perfectly, June 26th, unfortunately, wasn’t the day for sub-4 to manifest itself.

Kipyegon and all of her strength came through the line at 4:06.42, just over a full second faster than her world record. Although she did not achieve under four minutes, it is worth noting that even Kipchoge did not break two hours during the Breaking2 project. He did eventually go on to do it later in his career.

This means there is hope for Kipyegon to achieve this goal in the future.

A New Record Emerged, Here’s Why It Won’t Count As An Official World Record

Kipyegon’s new time cannot be considered a world record because several rules were broken to give her attempt the best chance possible of succeeding.

For this historic journey, Kipyegon utilized male pacers to help establish the pace of the race. The decision to use male pacers was made for several reasons, but the main one is that Kipyegon is already the fastest woman in history.

Dropping more than seven seconds off of her already historical time is a tall ask. Regardless of gender, the necessity of using a pacer was without question. World Athletics allows pacers in races, but they must be the same gender as the competitors in the race. Since there is no other woman faster than Kipyegon, the most reliable and efficient option was to use male pacers.

Kipyegon’s pacers included some of the world’s best athletes, including world record holder and two-time Olympic medalist Grant Fisher. During the broadcast, the commentators noted that, out of all the pacers involved, Kipyegon felt most comfortable running side-by-side with Fisher due to his running style.

It is worth noting that not all of the pacers were male. Georgia Hunter Bell and Jemma Reekie also joined the crew, both Olympic athletes for Great Britain. Bell is the Olympic bronze medalist in the 1500 meters from Paris and is the eleventh fastest woman of all time in the event. Reekie is a world indoor silver medalist in the 1500 meters and made the Olympic final in Tokyo.

Not only were the pacers there to help set the pace, but they were also there to execute specific running formations around Kipyegon to minimize the amount of wind resistance she’d feel during the race.

Although she did not achieve what most had hoped for, there is light in recognizing that she was on pace to break the record, coming through 1200 meters at 3:00.22. This means the pacers executed their jobs well.

Besides using male pacers, Kipyegon was also running in shoes that World Athletics had not yet approved. In a video posted by Citius Mag, a representative at Nike explained the science behind the shoes she wore.

“This is what we call the Victory Elite FK,” said the representative. “This is the tallest air unit that has ever been in a spike…”

When Kipyegon broke the world record in 2023, she was wearing a version of the Victory Elite spikes. To give her a greater advantage, Nike did everything possible to be as innovative as possible when structuring the shoe she wore on Thursday. According to an article in Believe In The Run, Nike refined every part of the shoe to make it lighter, faster, and specifically made for Kipyegon and her running style. Standard running spikes weigh around 4.8 ounces. Nike confirmed that Kipyegon’s new super shoes were somewhere around three.

The final reason her time won’t be ratified is that her attempt did not occur during an actual race or a World Athletics sanctioned track meet. All of these reasons together are what will make her new 4:06.42 time be considered a world best as opposed to a world record.

After her race, Kipyegon expressed nothing but positivity about the entire experience. She stated that she would aim to break the four-minute barrier again.

“I’ve proven that it’s possible,” said Kipyegon. “It’s only a matter of time. It will come our way. If not me, it’ll be someone else.”

On Instagram, Kipchoge sang many praises for Kipyegon and her willingness to dream big.

Kipyegon has not stated when she plans to try to go under four minutes again and whether it will be a setup similar to the event in Paris. However, she now has track and field fans looking forward to the day she will.

Those looking to see Kipyegon run again will have the chance to watch her on July 5^th in Eugene, Oregon, at the Prefontaine Classic. The world record holder will contest the 1500-meter alongside her Paris Olympic podium companions, Bell and Jessica Hull. The race will begin at 1:58 p.m. PST and can be found on NBC and Peacock.