Three-time Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon has announced that she will attempt to be the first woman to break the 4-minute mile on 26 June at the Stade Charléty in Paris.
As part of the Breaking4 partnership, Kipyegon will be supported by Nike to ensure conditions are as ideal as possible as she makes one attempt at the milestone this summer.
The Kenyan native is already the world-record holder for the fastest mile run by a woman, but will have to shave almost 8 seconds off her 4:07.64 time, which she set in 2023.
“I’m a three-time Olympic champion. I’ve achieved World Championship titles. I thought, What else? Why not dream outside the box?” she explained. “And I told myself, ‘If you believe in yourself, and your team believes in you, you can do it.’”
The time, date and location of the attempt have all been set to align with her training schedule and give her the best possible chance of achieving the milestone time.
What is the significance of the 4-minute mile?
Kipyegon is pursuing a feat that was once considered an insurmountable limitation which has, until now, remained beyond the reach of what seemed feasible for any female athlete.
Roger Bannister became the first man to run a mile in under four minutes in 1954. To this day, only 1,755 athletes…
