Three-time Olympic champion hopes to become first woman to crack four-minute mile, but odds are against her
J
ust before 8pm local time in Paris on Thursday, Faith Kipyegon will play her favourite pre-race song, Shakira’s Try Everything, to pump her up. Then, after listening to the hit from Zootropolis, she will try to chase down the impossible.
The 31-year-old from Kenya is already a three-time Olympic champion, the world mile record holder, and arguably the greatest female middle-distance runner in history. And now she intends a spectacular encore, by becoming the first woman to crash through the four-minute mile barrier.
Every scientific instinct suggests it won’t happen - at least not yet. Kipyegon’s world record for the mile is 4min 07.64sec, which means she will have to find nearly eight seconds. In a sport decided by fractions, that is a chasm.
