Kenya's Faith Kipyegon Smashes Olympic Record in Women's 1500m

Kenyan runner Faith Kipyegon on Friday successfully defended her Olympic title at the Tokyo games.

The 26-year-old Kenyan won the women's 1500-meter race in an Olympic record time of 3:53.11 ahead of Laura Muir of Great Britain (3:54.50) and Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands, who settled for bronze when she placed third in 3:55.86.

Kipyegon becomes only the third athlete in history to retain an Olympic 1500m title after Great Britain's Sebastian Coe (1980 and 1984) and the Soviet Union's Tatyana Kazankina (1976 and 1980).

"I am so happy. It was something I didn't really expect and I made it," said Kipyegon.

"It was a really fast race, I knew it will be going until the last lap. To get the Olympic record is just amazing to me. I am so happy. I knew it would be a tough race being there with Sifan and Laura."

Kenya is currently ranked at position 29th in the Tokyo Olympics medal standings with 2 Gold, 2 Silver and 2 Bronze.