She Started the Fire

Photo by Howard Lao

She Started the Fire

Words Jeff Merrill

These stories begin as they always do, in the pristine Stade Louis II in the Principality of Monaco. On a warm mediterranean evening in July, 2023 in the palace by the sea, Faith Kipyegon shattered the existing mile world record of 4:12.33, cutting nearly 4 seconds from the previous WR to run 4:07.64. She won the race by nearly 7 seconds. She closed her final lap in 61 seconds. Kipyegon hugged every athlete in the field. She blew kisses to the crowd dancing and cheering in the Stade’s stands. Prince Albert kissed the hands of Princess Charlene in the royal box, she, herself, an Olympic swimmer. A photo was taken of the entire field of women following the race to commemorate the historic moment. It is evident on the faces of Faith’s competitors how much they admire her and what she has meant to the sport. She had played no small part in raising them all to greater heights. Her incredible result inviting theirs.

This incredible result was delivered from the Faith who one month prior had stormed down the stretch in Florence to become the first woman to crack 3:50 for 1500m, the Faith who was at that time, double Olympic gold medalist in the metric mile (now triple), the Faith who had not lost a 1500m race in over 2 years, since a battle in Florence at the Golden Gala with Sifan Hassan, the previous mile world record holder dealt her a silver just 3 tenths shy of a win that would have extended her streak all the way back to 2019.

It was at this moment of elation in the wake of the world record, as Paul Swangard and Kara Goucher rattled off the national records set by everyone else in the field and tried to make sense of it that I turned to the empty couch cushion next to me and told it: “we’re about to start seeing more miles take the place of 1500m races on the circuit and we’re going to start seeing attempts on the 4 minute mile from women.” We had entered the zone, the marketing gold zone. The hair on the back of brand executives' necks tingled. The waft of sub 4 was now too enticing for it to be left on the table. We were now close enough to make it a thing and far enough away for the naysayers to be vocal, abundant, and nasty, their naysaying fueling the belief of the opposition, that a woman can and will break the 4-minute mile. The spidey senses of marketers know that this is the bullseye of the zone.

And why shouldn’t there be attempts? I contend at the risk of speaking for the entire scientific community, of which I am not a part, that there is much we do not know about the limits of women’s sport. Before I state what I do know, I will be the first to admit my lack of knowledge, and say that what is most valuable about what I know is that I know and am captivated by what I don’t know. Times across the board from all people are falling like Jenga blocks. This year, when 3 college boys opened their outdoor season in Raleigh running 3:33 in the same 1500m race, it caused me to question whether the auto qualifier for USA’s should be 3:32.50 (it is currently 3:35.00), and the auto for World Champs 3:30 (currently 3:33.00). There were years when no college kid broke 3:40, and the qualifier for USAs was 3:39. Women’s times have and should tumble too, and they should tumble even more so. Men have been competing in organized fashion in high numbers for nearly 100 years before women. Women’s sport, in the shape and support anywhere similar to men’s, is relatively new. The effects of this show a slow ramping up of participation. Across the racing scene, the breakdown of men to women competitors in major invitationals and all-comer’s meets is consistently ⅔ men and ⅓ women. This year, the Western States Endurance Run announced the highest participation for women in the race’s history- 28% of the field!... That is decidedly not reflective of the percentage of women in the general population. The data we have currently for what women are capable of in comparison to men (a silly statistic to begin with) is based on, to my unscientific eye, roughly half of the men’s data set.

Two weeks ago, in Paris, Faith Kipyegon’s sponsor, Nike staged an unofficial Breaking4™ attempt on the track in Stade Charléty. The attempt was not made as I thought attempts would be when I spoke to my couch- in a real race, taking place in an existing meet on the calendar. Instead, it was one in the family of the Breaking 2 attempt that Nike had put on for Eliud Kipchoge, minimizing variables that would in the context of a real race, hinder the ability to run as fast as possible. The stripped away obstacles have for the history of our sport, shaped the barriers we know and through navigating them, athletes have produced the incredible times that sit atop the record boards. Taking away the variables, in my mind, reconstructs the game being played and in the case of the marathon distance, makes the times as comparable as apples to oranges; like kicking a record-breaking field goal on the moon. But the mile is a very different race than the marathon, and due to the sheer amount of time it takes to complete each distance (~4 mins & ~2 hours) the variables that can be controlled to optimize performance are much fewer and carry less influence on the outcome. The main difference from a normal race in the curated Breaking4 attempt was that instead of tapping 1-2 female athletes to pace Faith through the opening 1000m, a pack of male athletes was utilized to attempt to shelter Kipyegon from the wind and keep her as close as possible to the rail, while being able to stay composed and not get squirrelly at the quick pace.

The pack rolled through 1200m in 3:01.8, an insane result in comparison to anything we’ve seen a woman come through that distance before enroute to a 1500m or full mile. In comparison, when Kipyegon ran her 4:07.64 world record in Monaco, she came through 1200m in 3:06.66. Over the final lap, the hot early pace took its toll, and she faded to 4:06.9 unofficially, with the pack of men, whose bests in the mile ranged from upper 3:40’s to low 3:50’s running with her and urging her on.

The attempt was met with mixed reviews, with the believers and naysayers both emboldened in their opinions. She did not do it, and with all of the evidence out there compiled, no one knows for sure if she can or cannot. We have a tendency to look at the positioning of these events in the grand scheme, to place a single result by a single person as the pin on the cork board chart that for better or worse is moving the entirety of humanity, or women’s athletics forward. It is the case in sport, and particularly in this one, that progress is made by one person at a time, breaking a record, or achieving a victory. What an entire species is capable of doing rests on their sole ability to make it happen by their own body, mind, and determination. In these grand arguments, we often don’t think about what it means to the individual person. An athlete’s time to use their body in such a way to attack barriers with the incredible force to do so is not infinite. It is a blink of a cow’s eye in most cases. In some, like Faith’s it can last longer; long enough to grab 3 Olympic Gold medals over an 8-year span, and to break world records after that. But it still never will be forever.

Matthew Centrowitz had never in his career been a time chaser. He was known as a racer. Nearing the twilight of his time on the oval, perhaps sensing his own mortality, he took a shot at Alan Webb’s 3:46.91 American Record in the mile. He came up short, running 3:49, but he tried. He could have left the argument open, left people to speculate whether he was capable of doing it or not, but when you’re 60, my guess is that is not an argument you want to be having with the empty couch cushion next to you. It is better to have fought. Now the record is 3:43.9, run by Yared Nuguse 2 years after Centro’s attempt.

There is only so much time to be able to use what you have at your peak. Life is like a direct to streaming movie where you have one wish for a superpower to use in a day and then it vanishes, never to return. The narrative was that Faith was attempting to move women’s sports to a place it had never been, that she was going to put it all on her shoulders and carry it across the line, but she was also trying to see what she could do while she still has the ability to do it her best. The desired ripple effect for all of us should be for that effort and desire to see what she can do to inspire everyone to do the same, including the other at least 50% of women and girls out there currently on the sidelines. Who could be a naysayer to that?

Photo by Howard Lao

After her 4:06.9 mile in Paris, Kipyegon, along with about 5 jumbo jetloads of Nike folks flew from Paris to Oregon. She raced the 1500m at the 50th Prefontaine Classic. Meet organizers moved the race to the premier spot at the end of the schedule, bumping the Bowerman Mile from its traditional timeslot. Paced by Sage Hurta Klecker through 900m, she drove solo for the remaining 600m in front of a packed Hayward Field. She rolled through 1200m in 3:04.68 and closed her final 400m in 59 to break her own world record for the third time in 3 years. She ran 3:48.68. exactly 44 seconds for the final 300m. She is the first woman to run under 3:50, and now the first woman under 3:49, closing in sub4 mile pace. Because of her attempt a week prior in Paris, many, many more people tuned in to watch her do it. The YouTube video of her Prefontaine race has 557,000 views, compared to 369,000 views of Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s 400m win at Pre. Syd is arguably the most famous and dominant female track and field star on the planet. The marketing worked.

In the very same meet, Kipyegon’s countrywoman, Beatrice Chebet ran 13:58.06 to become the first woman ever under 14 minutes in the 5,000m, a feat so ridiculous, hearing whispers of goals of this 5 years ago sounded completely preposterous, but with Gudaf Tsegay’s 14:00 run last year was all but assured. We are lulled into accepting the unfathomable through time when the constant chipping away makes it inevitable. We’re only shocked by something that seemed completely ridiculous to us only years ago when it comes seemingly out of the blue. Sub 4 likely will not. It is spoken about openly now because of Faith, and there will be more and more women closing in.

The mechanisms are in motion. A woman will break 4 minutes in the mile, whether it happens tomorrow, 2 years or 10 years from now. But at the center of the grand human achievement, when it does happen, will be a person giving it their damnedest to see what they’re made of while their candle is still burning. One candle starts a roaring fire. It’s lit.

Photo by Howard Lao