Nairobi — Even the commentators ran out of adjectives to describe Faith Kipyegon's performance, as the double World Champion shattered the 1500m world record, becoming the first ever woman to dip under 3:50 as she clocked 3:49.11 to obliterate Genzebe Dibaba's 3:50.07 world mark.
It was a race between Kipyegon and the clock, and the Kenyan star achieved a dream that she had long hoped for, and which she came microseconds close to breaking in Monaco last year.
Even her competitors were in awe of her performance. Britain's Laura Muir, who finished second behind her, was excited to be part of the race.
"It was great to be part of the world record race. But it was not the first world record race I was running in, I was in previous ones. I am so happy for Faith. I would have loved to be closer to her. But for the first race of the season this is really decent. I have never gone through the first 800m as fast as today," she stated.
With two world titles and two Olympic titles, this year and next year going for a hattrick of both, the only thing missing on Kipyegon's CV was a world record.
Before the race, she had insinuated that 'anything is possible' and she would attempt to lower Dibaba's World mark, saying that she felt her body was in great shape.
Into the race, the focus on her eyes was visible and from the gun, she was a girl on a mission.
She perched herself on the shoulder of pace setter Hurta-Klecker Sage for most of the race, with the wavelight technology doing its job showing her how far she was from her target.
With 600m to go and the pace setter dropping off, Kipyegon was a few steps behind the blue World record line.
At the bell, she kicked in and showed she was determined for it and by the time she was whirling down the backstraight, she was already way ahead of the targeted time.
Kipyegon didn't seem to slow down and kicked harder towards the finish line, clocking world record pace and achieving a massive dream.
She lay flat on the tartan, tears in her eyes, words not enough from her mouth and just pointed at the clock, with the glee of a world champion.
