Faith Kipyegon Has Not Raced Since July. She Says Her Hamstring Needs More Time.

Faith Kipyegon was not among the 18 women in the 1,500m when the Diamond League published its entry lists on Tuesday for Sunday’s meeting in Silesia. A day later she said the hamstring injury she has carried since late May needs more time to heal than she had planned for.

Kipyegon is the reigning Olympic and world champion at 1,500m, and she holds the world record at 3:48.68.

“Since the end of May, I have been dealing with a hamstring injury and unfortunately it needs a bit longer to recover than I had hoped,” she wrote on her Instagram account. “I know that taking care of it now is the most important thing I can do to come back at my best. So for now, I will take the time to heal, recover and get stronger.” She signed off, “I’ll be back.”

The post named no race, set no timeline, and announced no withdrawal from anything.

Her season so far consists of three races. She opened on May 16 by winning the 5,000m in Shanghai in 14:24.14, which led the world at the time and was her 30th victory at a Diamond League meeting. At the Prefontaine Classic on July 4 she finished third in the mile in 4:17.80. Nikki Hiltz won in a meeting record of 4:17.49 and Dorcus Ewoi took second in a personal best of 4:17.62. It was the first time in more than five years that she had been beaten over 1,500m or the mile. Six days later she was fourth in the Monaco 3,000m in 8:24.21, in a race Agnes Jebet Ngetich won in 8:08.95.

None of the three results came near her own marks. The Eugene mile was 10.16 seconds slower than her mile world record of 4:07.64, and the Monaco 3,000m 17.17 seconds outside the African record of 8:07.04 she set last August. Even the Shanghai win sat 18.94 seconds outside her 5,000m best of 14:05.20.

The injury has been public since early July. “Since Shanghai, I’ve been dealing with a hamstring injury, but the last two weeks have been a step in the right direction,” she wrote in a post on the same account the day after Eugene, adding that she was building toward a strong second half of the season. World Athletics said the same in its report from Eugene, dating the problem to her Shanghai opener, and its report from Monaco described her as continuing a comeback from it.

Forty days have passed since Monaco, and what is left of the track season is compressed. Silesia is on Sunday, the Diamond League final in Brussels follows on Sept. 4 and 5, and the Ultimate Championship runs in Budapest from Sept. 11 to 13. The women’s 1,500m there is a straight final on Sept. 12, with no heats, part of a format World Athletics designed around three evening sessions, about 400 athletes from some 70 nations, and a $10 million prize fund that pays $150,000 for a gold medal. World Athletics lists Kipyegon among the reigning Olympic champions already qualified for it.

She still holds the world records at 1,500m and the mile. The next World Championships are in Beijing in 2027.