Faith Kipyegon clocks new women’s world record time of three minutes, 49.11 seconds in Florence, shaving almost a second off Ginzebe Dibara’s previous mark as Britain’s Laura Muir finishes second; Dina Asher-Smith pulls out of women’s 100m after suffering cramp on the blocks
Last Updated: 02/06/23 9:54pm
Faith Kipyegon broke the world record for the 1500 metres
Laura Muir settled for silver at the Diamond League Golden Gala in Florence as Faith Kipyegon broke the women’s 1,500m world record.
Kipyegon stole the headlines in the final event of the evening as the double Olympic and world champion added the world record to her list of achievements.
Muir could only watch on the final lap as Kipyegon powered away to take almost a second off Ginzebe Dibara’s previous mark, clocking a time of three minutes and 49.11 seconds.
Muir set a season’s best of 3.57:09 but was still comfortably beaten.
There was disappointment for Dina Asher-Smith, who pulled out of the women’s 100m at the last minute.
Asher-Smith, third last time out in Qatar, had been among the favourites in the race but was forced to miss it after suffering from cramp in the blocks.
“Other than that all good, but I didn’t want to risk anything today,” the 27-year-old wrote on social media.
“Frustrated as I was SO excited to race and felt really good, but had to make a sensible call for the bigger picture! On to Paris.”
In her absence, Marie-Josee Ta Lou won it from Gina Luckenkemper, with Britain’s Imani-Lara Lansiquot taking third.
American Fred Kerley made the men’s 100m look easy in the absence of Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs on home turf.
The world champion still has not been beaten this season, although his time of 9.94 seconds left room for improvement.
