Faith Kipyegon cruises to victory in semi 1 of the 1500m race (C) Kelly Ayodi for Olympics Kenya
Double Olympic champion in the women's 1500 metres Faith Kipyegon has qualified for the final in her specialist event at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games after winning Semifinal One with a time of 3:58.64 on Thursday night at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Paris.
Nelly Chepchirchir, who also competed in semifinal One, did not go through after finishing second last, 11th, with a time of 4:03.24.
Susan Ejore, competing in Semifinal Two, will join Kipyegon in the final which will take place on Saturday at 9:15 pm after registering a personal best time of 3:56.57 to finish 5th.
Kipyegon, the world and Olympic record holder in the event, had a slow start in her race, running while boxed in the inside lane in the middle pack of the race.
Chepchirchir, running with a confident straight gait, was in the leading pack and showed promise of sailing through as one of the first six finishers, the maximum number of athletes that could qualify for the final from the race.
As the race wore on towards the final, Chepchirchir maintained her place in front of the leading pack as Kipyegon slowly wiggled out of the inside lane despite best attempts by other athletes to deny her space to move to the outside lane.
After the bell however, with the pace increasing, Kipyegon found a way to move forward and close the gap on the leading pack before overtaking Chepchirchir, the American Elle St. Pierre, and Georgia Bell of Great Britain to lead the race to the end.
As Kipyegon cruised to victory, Chepchirchir horribly lost pace, and struggled to stay ahead of the mass of bodies overtaking her.
Georgia Bell, 3:59.49, was second in that race. Elle St. Pierre, 3:59.74, finished third.
Laura Muir of Great Britain was fourth, 3:59.83.
Klaudia Kazimierska of Poland finished fifth with a personal best time of 4:00.21.
Águeda Marqués of Spain clinched the remaining qualifying slot after finishing sixth with a time of 4:01.90.
In the second semifinal, Susan Ejore played her cards well, conserving energy prudently to leave her with enough in the tank to withstand the rigours of the sprint to the finish line.
Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia, the perceived main challenger to Kipyegon's quest for an unprecedented third consecutive gold medal in the event, led the race from the beginning but faded in the final lap to finish fourth with a time of 3:56.41, doing just enough to qualify for the final as one of the top six finishers in that race.
Tsegay's compatriot, Diribe Welteji won the race with a time of 3:55.10, the fastest of the night.
Jessica Hull of Australia, 3:55.40, was second. She was followed in third place by Nikki Hiltz of the USA, 3:56.17.
Agathe Guillemot of the host nation France also stormed into the final, finishing in sixth place with a national record time of 3:56.69.
