The Kenyan’s last loss over the distance was to Sifan Hassan at the Florence Diamond League in June 2021
Faith Kipyegon rounded off her season in style with victory over 1500m at the inaugural ATHLOS NYC event in New York (September 26).
The 30-year-old won a tactical affair in 4:04.79 at the Icahn Stadium and went a third consecutive year unbeaten in the 1500m.
The last athlete to beat Kipeygon over 1500m was Sifan Hassan and that was all the way back at the Florence Diamond League in June 2021.
Since then Kipyegon has won two world titles, become a triple Olympic champion and bettered her own world record to 3:49.04.
Faith Kipyegon (Athlos)
In a much slower affair at ATHLOS NYC, which saw athletes constantly looking over their shoulder to see who’d make the first move for home, the Kenyan was still never troubled.
Kipyegon, with all of that experience, controlled the race throughout and turned on the afterburners with around 200m to go.
Even the likes of Diribe Welteji and Gudaf Tsegay couldn’t keep up with Kipyegon in the closing stages and they finished second and fourth respectively as Britain’s Katie Snowden placed sixth.
Kipyegon, like all of the other winners, won the $60,000 top prize and was also awarded a custom Tiffany crown worth $25,000.
Brittany Brown (Athlos)
The athlete who did best financially out of the event was Brittany Brown, who scooped up a whopping $85,000 in prize money.
That’s because Brown placed second in the 100m and then beat favourite Gabby Thomas in an exhilarating 200m to round off a spectacular night.
Brown, who claimed Olympic 200m bronze in Paris, clocked 22.18 to Thomas’ 22.21 and ran down the gold medallist in the closing stages to take the win.
In the 100m, Marie-Josée Ta Lou-Smith got the better of Brown and the pair ran 10.98 and 11.05 respectively.
For Ta Lou-Smith, who agonisingly pulled up halfway through the Olympic 100m final, it was the best possible way to finish her season and she was unsurprisingly a popular winner in New York.
Britain’s Daryll Neita placed fourth at ATHLOS NYC.
Marileidy Paulino (Athlos)
The performance of the night arguably came in the 400m as Marileidy Paulino dominated to take the win in 49.59.
The reigning Olympic and world 400m champion, who ran a Games record of 48.17 at the Stade de France to go fourth on the all-time list, looked a class apart at ATHLOS NYC.
Paulino’s victory wasn’t just impressive because of the time but also the calibre of athletes she beat.
The 27-year-old had to be at her best as the field included Alexis Holmes, Salwa Eid Naser, Shamier Little, Lieke Klaver and Lynna Irby-Jackson.
Holmes, who anchored the US women’s 4x400m to glory at the Olympics, came second in 49.99 and Eid Naser – the 2019 world champion and Olympic 400m silver medallist from Paris – was third with 50.40.
Tsige Duguma (Athlos)
In the 800m, Olympic silver medallist Tsige Duguma got the better of world champion and Olympic bronze medallist Mary Moraa.
Moraa, who became Diamond League 800m champion in Brussels, hadn’t lost over two laps since the Paris Games.
However, it was clear that Duguma had the greater strength in the final 100m as she powered ahead of Moraa to take the crown.
The pair clocked 1:57.43 and 1:58.05 in what was a pulsating battle in New York.
Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (Athlos)
The first event of the night was the 100m hurdles and Jasmine Camacho-Quinn came out on top with a scintillating 12.36.
Camacho-Quinn, who is the Olympic champion from Tokyo, was next to reigning gold medallist Masai Russell and that was the much anticipated clash ahead of ATHLOS NYC.
The Puerto Rican hadn’t lost a single race since her bronze in Paris and maintained that streak in the Big Apple.
Russell, who later stated that she “wanted to protest” due to “a lot of flinching going on at the starting line”, placed third with 12.44.
Gabby Thomas and Alexis Ohanian (Getty)
Athletes competed at ATHLOS NYC in the 100m, 200m, 400m, 100m hurdles, 800m, and 1500m.
The women’s-only invitational was set-up by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian to “help inspire the next generation” and “promote women’s sport”.
The prize pot was also incredibly attractive to athletes and far higher than what they received in the Diamond League this season. For example, the prize pot for first place at ATHLOS NYC was $60,000. You got $30,000 for winning an event in the Diamond League final at Brussels.
The purse for ATHLOS NYC stood at: First place: $60,000; Second: $25,000; Third: $10,000; Fourth: $8000, Fifth: $5000; Sixth: $2500.
As well as the action taking place on the track, fans also enjoyed the spectacle off it as well, with a myriad of celebrities trackside and a performance from Grammy Award winning artist Megan Thee Stallion at the end of the night.
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