IN A MUCH CLOSER BATTLE than we saw on the men’s side, Faith Kipyegon’s 1500 World Record got 9 of 22 first-place votes. That, plus a good number of 2nd- and 3rd-place nods lifted it above Tigst Assefa’s marathon WR, which had 8 first-place votes. In between those, Shericka Jackson’s 21.41 snuck in.
In all, 15 performances received recognition from our panelists in our 5-4-3-2-1 scoring system.
1. Faith Kipyegon’s 3:49.11 WR, 75 (9 No. 1s)
Last year, the Kenyan’s 3:50.37 earned 5th from the panel. Just 1.26 seconds made all the difference in ’23, as Kipyegon became the first woman to crash through the 3:50 barrier. “This just came as a surprise,” she said. “I was really, really pushing.” It was the first race in a triple WR binge she set off on before her double victories at Worlds.
2. Shericka Jackson’s 21.41 WC win, 57 (2)
In an event with as imposing a World Record as Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 21.34 from 35 years ago, the No. 2 half-lap performance ever takes on great importance. Jackson’s 21.41 gave her a dominating WC win. She revealed she had WR hopes, but had predicted a 21.40. She said, “And I got close to that. As for the WR, I’m close, I’m close, I’m getting there.”
3. Tigst Assefa’s 2:11:53 WR, 55 (8)
Assefa’s performance sent shockwaves through the running world, as she became the first woman under 2:13 and 2:12. Shoe skeptics noted that the adidas-clad Ethiopian had merely come closer to fulfilling the 4% improvement guesstimate that Nike had bandied about with its original supershoes. The last regular-shoe WR was Paula Radcliffe’s 2:15:25. Subtract 4% and you have 2:10:00.
4. Kipyegon’s 4:07.64 WR, 48 (2)
The mile WR Kipyegon set in Monaco made her the first under 4:10 and for the first time brought the 4-lap standard in line with the 1500 best. It surely would have netted more votes had it not been competing with her own metric 3:49.11 in the eyes of the panelists. Kipyegon said she had planned to go after this record, her third of the season: “It was amazing.”
5. Gudaf Tsegay’s 14:00.21 WR, 45
Perhaps unlooked-for after the Ethiopian placed an injury-slowed 13th in the Budapest 5000, Tsegay’s performance at the Prefontaine Classic came oh-so-close (0.22 to be exact) from making the 26-year-old the first woman to break the 14:00 barrier (a barrier Gunder Hägg broke for men in ’42). The 10,000 world champ said the performance made her “very happy.”
Other Vote-Getters:
6. Sha’Carri Richardson’s WC 100 win, 15 (1)
7. Femke Bol’s WC win, 9
8. Lagi Tausaga’s WC win, 8
9. Winfred Yavi’s 9:50.66, 5
10. tie, Anna Hall’s 6988 & Kipyegon’s 14:05.20 WR, 3
13. tie, Bol’s 49.26i WR, Keni Harrison’s 12.24 & Marileidy Paulino’s WC win, 2
15. Tsegay’s WC 10,000 win, 1.