Tokyo Olympics 2021: Kenyan Faith Kipyegon wins women's 1500m 

Faith Kipyegon won the Tokyo 2021 women's 1500m with a time of 3:53.11 - a new Olympic record. It was also her second successive gold at the quadrennial event.

Of the top five in the women's 1500m rankings for 2021, only Gudaf Tsegay failed to make the final after being unable to judge the pace in her heat. Sifan Hassan, who headed the rankings, made the final comfortably, as did Laura Muir, Faith Kipyegon and Gabriela Debues-Stafford - one of two sisters.

Tokyo Olympics - The second faceoff between Faith Kipyegon, Sifan Hassan and Laura Muir

Kipyegon, who was competing in only one event at the Tokyo Olympics 2021 had made the 1500m final in style, by setting fast times on her way. She was also a gold medallist in the 1500m event at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Incidentally, Hassan was fifth and Muir was seventh in that race.

Kipyegon smarted after losing out to Sifan Hassan at the 2019 Doha World Championships but she didn't disappoint in Tokyo, running magnificently to win.

Tokyo Olympics - first silver medal in athletics for Great Britain courtesy Laura Muir

Laura Muir has been one of the most promising and fearless athletes on the global scene. She finished seventh in 1500m in Rio 2016 and yearned to win gold at either the Games or the World Championships. She finally did that in style with a silver at the Tokyo Olympics 2021.

Muir tracked Hassan and Kipyegan right off the bat and her diligence soon paid off. After a seemingly steady start, Hassan surprisingly went to the front as Kipyegan and Muir followed.

When the Kenyan took off about 300m from the finish, Muir stayed close behind and overtook Hassan on the final straight to win her first big global medal.

During the initial rounds, much of the attention was focussed on Hassan's incredible recovery after a fall to win her heat in 1500m. There was also some buzz around her tripling in the 1500m, 5000m and the 10000m. Shd made good on that promise by winning 5000m convincingly.

However, she looked spent as Kipyegan took off and Muir gave chase.

Regardless, a bronze medal in 3:55.86 is still fantastic for someone bidding for a historic triple. While she might not achieve that, a medal will still secure her a place in history.

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