Olympic 1500m champion Faith Kipyegon, together with her sponsor Nike, has announced a bold plan to break the four-minute mile barrier for women.
Kipyegon is considered the greatest female middle-distance runner ever, and she currently holds the women’s mile record at 4 minutes 7.64 seconds. Beating this record would be a challenge, but with the help of her sponsor and male pacers, she may have a chance.
The athlete admitted, “I’m a three-time Olympic champion. I’ve achieved world championship titles. I thought, ‘What else? Why not dream outside the box?’ And I told myself, ‘If you believe in yourself, and your team believes in you, you can do it.’”
She added, “I want this attempt to say to women, ‘You can dream and make your dreams valid… This is the way to go as women, to push boundaries and dream big.’”
A tough challenge
Nike is calling Faith Kipyegon’s attempt “Faith Kipyegon vs the 4-Minute Mile.” Admittedly, many experts think it will be tough, but Nike is known for taking on big challenges.
Back in 2017, there was a lot of doubt when Nike announced that Eliud Kipchoge, another Kenyan, would try to run a marathon in under two hours. He didn’t succeed on the spot, but achieved the goal two years later as he ran 1:59:40 in Vienna. However, it didn’t count as an official world record because he had 41 pacemakers helping him.
Kipyegon will use similar tactics, having male pacers help her by running in front and behind her to reduce wind resistance. A recent study suggests that with this help, she could run a time of 3:59.37. Additionally, she’ll have the latest shoes from the brand that would support her in achieving this feat.
However, Kipyegon would really have a hard time. To run a mile in under four minutes, an athlete usually needs to be able to run 800 metres in 1:52 or 1:53, but her personal best is 1:57. With this, she still needs to shave off a lot of time, even with the best shoes and pacers.
Her coach, Patrick Sang, then claimed, “She is convinced that it’s within her reach… And with the proper support coming from all the systems around her, I believe it’s possible.”
In a social media post, Nike Women shared the news:
View this post on Instagram
Netizens cheered on the runner with messages of faith, excitement, and confidence in her success. One fan wrote, “Her-story loading!!!! 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍 you got this, FAITH!”