Faith Kipyegon came within a whisper of making history over the weekend at the Silesia Diamond League in Chorzów, Poland, clocking 8:07.04 in the 3,000 meters, just 0.93 seconds off the world record that has stood untouched since 1993.
The mark she was chasing belongs to China’s Wang Junxia, who ran 8:06.11 in Beijing during a now-infamous stretch of dominance by “Ma’s Army”, the training group led by coach Ma Junren.
That era has long carried a cloud of suspicion.
In 2016, a handwritten letter attributed to Wang and signed by nine other athletes alleged they were forced to take banned substances under Ma’s coaching. With no legal grounds to retroactively strip the mark, the time remains on the books more than three decades later.
No one had come remotely close until now.
Kipyegon, already the world record holder in the 1,500m and the mile, lowered her 3,000m personal best by more than 16 seconds on a sweltering evening. American Sage Hurta-Klecker paced the first 1,200 meters before handing off to Australia’s Jessica Hull through 2,000 meters.
From there, Kipyegon surged solo, chasing a red “world record” pacing line that remained just out of reach.
“To be honest, I did not notice the clock on the finish line because I was so tired. But now I am very satisfied with the time,” she told reporters afterward. The effort broke the African, Kenyan, Diamond League, and meeting records, and now stands as the second-fastest performance in history.
She added, “I have witnessed the world record red line when I was running during the race, but today it was too hot. I will return next year to this place. I enjoyed the crowd, I am content with it. I thank God what I have done.”
Earlier in the week, Kipyegon had downplayed the idea of breaking the world record, telling Kenya’s Mozzart Sport, “I am just going there to lower my personal best. That world record is tough. We are here to try. I say, ‘dare to try’. It is always better to dare to try than not to try, so I am going to Silesia to just lower my personal best and see if I will dare to try and if the world record is possible.”
The 8:07.04 follows a season of historic highs for Kipyegon. She broke her own 1,500m world record at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, running 3:48.68, and became the first and only woman in history to run faster than 3:50.
At the Breaking4 event in Paris earlier this spring, she ran the fastest-ever mile by a woman, clocking 4:06.42. The official mile world record, 4:07.64, also belongs to her.
Until this year, Kipyegon’s best at 3000m dated back to 2014, when she ran 8:23.55 as a teenager. Her latest performance slashed more than 16 seconds off that mark.
The run also arrives amid a breakout year for Beatrice Chebet, her Kenyan compatriot, who ran 8:11.56 at the Rabat Diamond League in May, the fastest 3,000m since Wang’s record. Chebet later smashed the 5,000m world record in Eugene, becoming the first woman to break 14 minutes with a time of 13:58.06.
Following her race in Silesia, Kipyegon confirmed she is now turning her attention to the upcoming World Championships. “It is all about Tokyo now. I am so happy,” she said.
For now, Wang’s record survives. But if Saturday’s performance was any indication, it may not stand much longer.
