Xiamen Diamond League: Kipyegon and Chebet set meet records as Omanyala settles for second
Faith Kipyegon and Beatrice Chebet stole the show at the 2025 Xiamen Diamond League with record-breaking performances on Saturday, while Ferdinand Omanyala finished second in a highly competitive men's 100 metres final.
Three-time Olympic 1,500 metres champion Faith Kipyegon set a meet record to win the 1,000 metres at the 2025 Xiamen Diamond League, clocking 2:29.21 on Saturday.
Kipyegon, who will in June attempt to become the first woman to run the metric mile in under four minutes at a time-trial event organised by Nike, stayed in the trail pack over the first 400 metres but surged ahead after overtaking Uganda’s Halimah Nakaayi, who had threatened with an audacious breakaway.
She then steadily pulled away from the chasing pack, her pace raising hopes that she could dip under the world record time of 2:28.98, set by Russia’s Svetlana Masterkova in August 1996.
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However, it was not to be, as Kipyegon crossed the line 0.06 seconds slower than her Diamond League record for the event.
Speaking after the race, Kipyegon described her performance as “great”.
Australian Abbey Caldwell finished second with an area record time of 2:32.94, while her compatriot Sarah Billings clocked a personal best of 2:33.45 to finish third.
Earlier in the evening, Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet continued her fine form in the women’s 5,000 metres, winning with a meet record and world-leading time of 14:27.12.
Beatrice Chebet starts off her track season with a 5000m win it’s the Xiamen Diamond League 🇨🇳
— Lynne Wachira (@WachiraLynne) April 26, 2025
A killer sprint to leave Gudaf Tsegay hanging on for 2nd pic.twitter.com/KmHkL1gtbY
Chebet stayed with the leaders until the final 400 metres before pulling away with a strong sprint to claim victory.
Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay, the world record holder, finished second with a season’s best time of 14:28.18. She was followed by five of her compatriots, with Birke Haylom recording a season’s best of 14:28.80 to finish third. Caroline Nyaga, the other Kenyan in the race, was eighth in 14:33.24.
In the men’s 100 metres, Ferdinand Omanyala clocked 10.13 seconds to finish second behind South African Akani Simbine. Simbine, who holds the world-leading time of 9.90s set in Gaborone on April 12, won the race in 9.99 seconds.
Jeremiah Azu of Great Britain ran a season’s best of 10.17s to finish third, while American Christian Coleman, who holds the meet record with 9.83s set in September 2023, finished fourth in 10.18s.
Victory also eluded Kenya in the men’s 3,000 metres steeplechase, where Simon Kiprop and Edmund Serem clocked season and personal bests of 8:07.12 and 8:08.50 respectively to finish third and fourth. Ethiopia’s Samuel Firewu won the race, setting a world-leading and meet record time of 8:05.61, ahead of reigning world and Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco, who clocked 8:06.66. Abraham Kibiwot, the other Kenyan in the field, placed seventh in 8:10.13.
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