Kenya’s star in the 2024 Olympic Games Faith Kipyegon is set to make her debut in the 5000m when the race will start on Friday, August 2, 2024.

This is a discipline that will witness stiff competition given the lineup, and Kipyegon is among the world record-holders over 1500m, 5000m, and 10,000m who will meet in the middle at this distance.

Kipyegon, Gudaf Tsegay, and Beatrice Chebet have respectively broken the world records across those three distances over the past 12 months, and they have also won global titles in that time frame.

With defending champion Sifan Hassan set to compete too, an exhilarating clash is expected in Paris.

Tsegay, the bronze medallist at this distance in Tokyo, broke Kipyegon’s world 5000m record with 14:00.21 at the Diamond League Final in Eugene last year, and this was a few weeks after winning the world 10,000m title. The Ethiopian has raced just twice this year but has set personal bests in both races, clocking 3:50.30 over 1500m in Xiamen and 29:05.92 over 10,000m in Eugene.

Kipyegon will be doubling at 1500m and 5000m in Paris. The two-time Olympic 1500m champion won her third world 1500m title in Budapest last year before going on to take gold over 5000m.

The star, who reduced the world 1500m record to 3:49.04 in Paris in early July, will be contesting the 5000m at the Olympics for the first time.

Two-time world cross-country champion Beatrice Chebet, who broke the world 10,000m record with 28:54.14 in Eugene earlier this year, is Kipyegon’s teammate. Chebet won the 5000m in Doha in 14:26.98 and then finished second to Kipyegon at the Kenyan Trials.

Margaret Chelimo, a World cross-country bronze medallist, is also in the Kenyan lineup.

Hassan’s threat

Olympic 5000m and 10,000m gold in Tokyo Hassan, is yet to decide exactly which disciplines she’ll contest in Paris – having qualified in the 1500m, 5000m, 10,000m and marathon.

Ethiopian teenager Medina Eisa, the African Games champion and winner of the Rabat Diamond League, is also entered, as is world 10,000m bronze medallist Ejgayehu Taye. The duo finished fourth and fifth, respectively, at the World Championships last year.

USA’s Elle St Pierre won the world indoor 3000m title in Glasgow before going on to set personal bests of 3:55.99 over 1500m and 14:34.12 over 5000m during the outdoor season, according to World Athletics. 

Nadia Battocletti, who set an Italian record of 14:35.29 to win the European title in June, will be looking to improve on her seventh-place finish from Tokyo.

European half marathon champion Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal, Japanese record-holder Nozomi Tanaka, and Australia’s Rose Davies are the other contestants set to challenge the Kenyan team.

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