Flashback 2016: Chepngetich keeps the faith to deliver Olympics glory

For many, 2016 has been a year to forget but not for Faith Chepng’etich Kipyegon who has been living in dreamland since August when she stunned the world to win the women 1500m Olympics title in Rio-de-Janeiro.

Her achievement in mowing down the feared Ethiopian world record holder, Genzebe Dibaba ranked among the biggest upsets of the track and field programme during the Brazil Games as Kenya celebrated her third of the six gold medals won at Rio 2016.

At only 22, Chepng’etich who is blessed with eye-catching looks to match her boundless talent is only in the formative stages of her senior career and to put her success into perspective, it took veteran medal machine Vivian Cheruiyot 16 years to land an Olympics gold also in Rio.

In Brazil, she became the second youngest female to bag her nation the top medal at the Olympics after Beijing 2008 women 800m champion, Pamela Jelimo who was 18 at the time of her crowning moment when she ran a lifetime best of 1:54.01, the third fastest ever.

Cheng’etich, the two-time world junior champion and Beijing 2015 Worlds silver medallist did what many of her compatriots have suffered at the hands of Ethiopians by climbing on a bike with 200m to go before scorching the finish out of the youngest member of the Dibaba distance running dynasty.

The amazed Kenyan was soon overjoyed as she accepted the congratulations of beaten Dibaba who took the silver in a reversal of the finishing order from the World Championships in Beijing last year.
Britain’s Jennifer Simpson rounded the podium in thanks to a furious homestretch drive.
The national record holder stopped the clock at four minutes, 8.93 seconds in what until the bell was a forgettable display of pedestrian running not fit for an Olympics final although it served up a conclusion that will be etched in the memory for ages.

“I knew it would be a fast race, I really had to kick on the last lap. I was well prepared for the race. I’m proud to win for my country,” Chepng’etich told IAAF at the time.

Dibaba was more than a second in arrears, taking silver in 4:10.27. In the tight battle for bronze, Simpson had the better finish, taking third place in 4:10.53. Both Dibaba and Simpson amazingly earned their respective countries’ first ever Olympic medals in the women’s 1500m.

It was the second women 1500m gold for Kenya after Nancy Jebet Langat produced another shocking victory at the 2008 edition in Beijing where the country also won six gold medals.

-Diamond League glory-

She added the IAAF Diamond League title to her expanding trophy cabinet with victories in Shanghai, Eugene and Oslo as well as a second finish in Paris, rendering her seventh finish in the Brussels final inconsequential having established a commanding lead in the elite circuit.

Chepng’etich blasted to two back-to-back national records in Shanghai and Eugene, stopping the clock in 3 minutes, 56.82 seconds in China before breaking her own standard in Oregon where she adjusted the Kenyan all time best to 3 minutes, 56.41 seconds.

Her ascent to the top of her sport was the reward of a steady progress since her talent burst to national notice during the 2009/10 Athletics Kenya (AK) National Cross Country Series before finishing fourth at the 2010 World Cross in Bydgoszcz, Poland aged just 16.

In 2011 she went year went three better to climb to the top of the podium at the 2011 edition in Punta Umbria, Spain.
That year the diminutive Chepng’etich also revealed her outstanding track ability by taking the 1500m gold medal at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Lille in a championship record of 4:09.48. It was a victory that gave the Kenyan belief.

“I wasn’t expecting to win. I was my first time in Europe for a track race. Winning that title gave me lots of confidence,” she said at the time.

Leading into the 2012 World Junior Championships, Chepng’etich was already an age-group star with many predicting a glittering future.

Her 2012 season started with a bang as she set a stunning national junior 1500m record of 4:03.82 in Shanghai. She followed it up by taking the national junior title to book her ticket for Barcelona then further illustrated her huge potential by finishing third at the Kenyan Olympic Trials to secure a spot on the national team for the London 2012 Games.
She went into the World Junior Championships hoping and expecting to pick up gold.

Being part of a highly successful Kenyan squad which won 13 medals – including four golds – made for a happy atmosphere within the team in Barcelona.

She shared a room with steeplechase bronze medallist Stella Jepkosgei Rutto, with the Kenyan distance-running women particularly prevalent, winning three golds.
She also recalls being able to sample the best of what the impressive Catalan capital has to offer with a bit of retail therapy.

“We went shopping in Barcelona – it was a good place,” she told.

The following month she failed to progress out of the 1500m heats at the London Olympics but she started her 2013 campaign with a bang, retaining her world junior cross-country title in Bydgoszcz and then, in her first metric mile of the season, posting an outstanding national record and African junior record of 3:56.98 in Doha. She went on to finish fifth in the 1500m at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow later that year.

In 2014 she secured the Commonwealth 1500m title in Glasgow as well as featuring in the world record-breaking Kenyan 4x1500m team at the IAAF World Relays in The Bahamas.

Last year she claimed her first global senior track medal with silver at the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015, finishing behind world record-holder Genzebe.

As she eyes the world title in London in 2017, Kenyans can only keep the faith that Chepng’etich will once again deliver.