Opinion: Faith Kipyegon gave the sub-four-minute mile a go but looked stressed doing so

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“She had a dream
And boy, it was a good one
So she chased after her dream
With much desire.
But when she gets too close
To her expectations
Well, the dream burned up
Like paper in fire”

— John Mellencamp, Paper in Fire (1987)

Kenyan great Faith Kipyegon went after the dream of clocking 1609 metres or the imperial mile in fewer than four minutes. But it was also Nike Incorporated’s dream. Like Breaking2, when Eliud Kipchoge wanted to break two hours in the marathon, Nike pulled out all the stops. The first time, it did not work. The second attempt did. But neither counted, and some fans felt that the effort was gimmicky, while others enjoyed the spectacle.

Nike was back at it again, this time with Kipyegon running four laps plus nine metres of the track in Paris. She had a bevy of pacers, wavelight technology and probably the lure of a lot of money to make the historic event happen.

History

Englishman Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile for the first time in recorded history on May 6, 1954. That is 71 years ago. Since then, approximately 2000 men have broken the barrier, officially.

The fastest official mile by a woman is 4:07.64 by Kipyegon from July 21, 2023. It is the world record. Thursday, she ran the mile in Paris in 4:06.42. No one has run even close to Kipyegon. The second-fastest miler is Dutch athlete Sifan Hassan, who clocked a 4:12.33 in 2019.

Kipyegon’s 1500m world record is 3:49.04 or 1295 performance points according to World Athletics. The same performance points in the mile would be 4:06.59. She bettered that on Thursday.

In addition to the 13 pacers and wavelights, she also wore a specially made pair of spikes and an aerodynamic suit.

Her splits were:

What happened…

Like gastrointestinal effluence, everyone has an opinion…

Kipyegon looked stressed at the start. She looked stressed throughout the run, and she appeared taxed in parts of lap three and lap four, especially at the finish. Considering she may have run a better performance time-wise than her 1500m world record, she didn’t fail.

Yes, she failed at going sub-four, but perhaps Nike Inc. pressured her too much. The chasm between 4:07.64 and 3:59.99 is — excuse the metaphor — miles apart.

It was too much to ask.

While the tactics were about “going after it,” one may argue that running 1:01.75, 2:01.00, 3:01.75, she may have had some oxygen-transporting mojo left in her cardiovascular/cardiorespiratory system to knock another 1.5 to 2 seconds off her 4:06.42 result. Maybe. On the one hand, nothing ventured, nothing gained (or lost), but on the other, it was a high-risk move.

Not much has been discussed about her training leading up to the sub-four-mile attempt.

However, Olympics.com published the following on June 20:

Under the guidance of coach Patrick Sang, who also works with Kipchoge, Kipyegon is preparing for her four-minute mile attempt at their high-altitude training camp in Kaptagat, Kenya.

Even though the task ahead of her is seen by many as insurmountable, she revealed that she has not changed her training regime ahead of Breaking4.

“I didn’t change anything in terms of training,” she said with a smile. “What my coach always gives me is the same work I’ve been doing, going into the Olympics or world championships. I think going into this race, what’s different is the mindset, but the goals are the same. Dreaming of what’s inside of me, which is breaking four.”

Paper in fire.

She seemed tense. Given the resources put into the Breaking4, Kipyegon may just match that performance in a regular race in the lead up to the Tokyo World Athletics Championships, probably in the 1500m. Maybe she will improve her world record by pulling off a 3:48.XX.

Kipyegon looked more relaxed on the start lines when she was going after her three Olympic gold medals and four World Championship gold medals. The 31-year-old has won over 30 Diamond League races and six Diamond League championships gold.

Additionally, there were times for much of the race that she was not drafting the men to cut the wind for her. It is unknown if there was a plan to get out of her way, if there was a tailwind — to let it push her. However, according to the race announcer (see video below), the pacers did as instructed.

Eleven fastest performances in the mile

Note that Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay has the second-fastest 1500m time in history at 3:50.30. The lesser-run mile time for her is the 12th fastest. Only 59 times in history has 4:20.00 been breached by a female runner.